Mistress of Death
by Hakimu
Summary: OoT: 200 years later! Keeva is an orphan that is supernaturally gifted. When great evil strikes and Keeva narrowly escapes, her gifts lead her to find out the truth about herself, her heritage, and her destiny.
1. Keeva and the Orphanage

It was a dull, foggy morning at the Castle Town. All of the children were huddled in a room together, sitting though yet another dull morning lecture. It was usually about the same things. The History of Hyrule. The Civil War. The Hero of Time. Blah, blah blah, blah _blah_. Keeva slouched into her seat. She really hated it here.

Even though she was one of the older orphans at sixteen, she was picked on often because of her appearance. She was very tall and skinny, with dark skin. That in itself wasn't too bad, but her hair was a very light shade of blonde that stuck out next to her dark skin. And her eyes- they were a strange shade of dark red. Keeva never met anyone else with eyes like hers, and she hated it. It also didn't help that she could see and hear ghosts, but she kept that fact to herself.

The incstructor banged somethign against the wall to get the childrens' attention. The instructor held up a photo of a blonde haired boy in a green tunic. The Hero of Time. He had shown this picture to the class about a million times. You all know who this is. You all know what he did. He was a hero sent to us by the gods to stop a great evil from destroying Hyrule, and quite possibly the world. Since he died 200 years ago, who will protect the world from new evil?"

A kid in the front raised his hand. It was Luke, a fourteen year old boy that always knew the answer. He was very smart, perhaps the smartest of all of the orphans. He was one of the few people at the orphanage Keeva liked. He was also picked on due to his smarts, so he and Keeva usually stuck together "The gods will protect us. They will send us another hero to get rid of the evil."

A girl, who was about twelve, shot up her hand angrily. Her name was Amelia. Keeva did not like her. She was mean, immature, and unwilling to just keep her opinions to herself. "Why does the Hero of Tiem get so much credit? All he did was weaken Ganondorf! It was Princess Zelda XXIII and the seven sages that did all of the work!"

"As you should know, Amelia, Princess Zelda and the Sages are honored just as much as the Hero of Time. The reason the Hero of Time is so respected is because he was not born into a position of power like the Sages were. he was a regular Hylian who stepped up and assisted those with way much power than him. He possessed much wisdom, power, and courage.

"I want to be a sage," cried one of the younger kids. "Can I be a sage?"

The intsructor frowned. "No. Let me tell you how the sage cycle works. When a sage has a child, that child will inherit the powers of his parent. However, the child cannot use these powers until they learn that they are the sage. So when the child is old enough, the sage will tell their child of their identity as a sage, which then allows the child to tap into the powers."

"But what if the Sage dies before they have a child?" asked Luke.

"That has happened. It is the reason any of the sages are unknown today. When a sage with no direct descendant dies, the next closest relative to be born will recieve th pwers. Sadly, they usually never find out and die without ever knowing that they were a Sage."

The intructor noticed the fog was now seeping into the room and dismissed the class. "Something is happening. Nobody go too far," he said as he got up and left the orphanage. Luke got up and followed him outside, and Keeva found herself following as well. A few of the older orphans got up and left, as well. Outside, the fog was so thick it was hard to breathe and nearly impossible to see. As she struggled to beathe, Keeva noticed something about the fog smelled funny.

Suddenly the air around the place got warmer. Keeva thought it was just her imagination, but the other orphans noticed the sudden rise in temperature as well, judging by their reactions. Keeva looked over at them, but the fog grew thicker and their outlines slowly faded. In a panic, she turned around and ran back to the orphanage. She turned around to be greeted by a ghost. She had seen quite a few different ghosts over her lifetime, and they all looked similar: white hair, red eyes, and tan skin. She did not know if ghosts had these traits in life, or if was just part of their ghostly appearance. This particular ghost, a short muscular woman with a stern face, often appeared to her in times of need. She spoke to Keeva in a moaning whisper that made no sense, but she somehow understood. "_Do not flee, you are needed. The answers you seek lie in Kakariko Village_." Keeva stared in horror as the ghost vanished. She was used to seeign and hearing ghsots, but never at the same time.

She ignored the ghost and went back to the orphanage to check on the other kids. Many of the younger orphans were crying, and the older ones looked scared. Keeva was about to ask someone what was happening until canon blasts sounded. "_Get away from the orphange_!" the ghost cried shrilly, causing Keeva's heartbeat to rise. Something told her to obey the voice, so she silently backed away from the orhange. Suddenly, loud booming noises sounded all through Castle Town as bulings and walls began to crumble. One cannonball shot through the orphanage and a wall collapsed on some poor kids. She looked away, sensing the loss of life there.

Keeva looked up as the temperature rose higher. She looked up in horror she she realized the fog was actually smoke. There was so much of it because the Castle Town was on fire. How was this happening? She wanted to see what was going on, but the thickeness of the smoke made it impossible.

Keeva's body was telling her to run, to escape the smoke and fire, but her mind was telling her to stay put. Since the walls of Castle Town were now badly demolished, the smoke was seeping through and preventing her from seeing. She was about to give up escaping when she heard a slight whispering in her ear that sounded as if it were another language. "_Go left_." It was the ghost woman again, she was sure of it. Trusting the only chance she had, Keeva ran left... and hit a wall. No, it wasn't a wall, it was a ladder! She climbed up the ladder and walked forward, still blinded by the smoke. Suddenly the ground slipped away and she began to free fall as she fought the urge to scream. She plummeted into cold, dark water and swam forward until she felt land.

The smoke was less dense here and she could see where she was. She turned around and realized she had fallen into the moat of Castle Town. She noticed the gate was busted down and gruff men were holding all of the people inside. She didn't think twice as she turned and sprinted away so that she wouldn't suffer the same fate as the rest of the townspeople. Castle Town was under siege and she was lucky enough to make it out alive. Now she was alone and she had nowhere to go.

She began to cry, brokenhearted at leaving behind the only home she had left, when she ran into road sign. It said " - Kakariko Village".

Suddenly, Keeva did have somewhere to go after all.


	2. Kakariko and the Sheikahs

Keeva walked along the dirt road and looked up at the sky. The sun was almost on the top of the sky, which meant it was about midday. The sun was barely visibile due to all of the dak clouds, and a drop in temperature told Keeva it would soon rain. When drops of cold water began to fall onto her, Keeva quickened her pace.

Her thoughts drifted to the fate her Castle Town and the orphanage. Keeva realized just how lucky she was that she made it out alive. Suddenly, she felt guilty that all her life she hated the fact that she was supernaturally gifted, and now it ended up saving her life. It was because of her "gifts" that she was going to Kakariko in the first place, and she did not know what to expect. As she approached the old, worn stone stairs that were the entrance of Kakariko, Keeva felt fear crawl into her heart. Kakariko could have befallen the same fate as Castle Town, and she could be walking into a trap. "Go in, it's okay." whispered the ghost voice, encouraging her. She warily climbed the stairs and entered the village.

Kakariko village that looked like it was recovering from a drought. All of the trees and plants were withered, and the grass looked as if it were trying to grow back. It was the beginning of spring, so the plants should have been in full bloom. She looked around for a sign of life, but all she could see was an old, rusted shack. She didn't know of it was empty or not, so she approached it slowly and with caution.

Suddenly a middle aged woman appeared from inside of the shack, statrling Keeva. Sh wanted to panic when she saw the woman's features. She had bright blood red eyes, pale white hair, and very tan skin. She looked like the ghosts that visited her during her childhood. But this woman was no ghost; Keeva knew that much. "Who are you?" she managed to croak.

She ignored Keeva's question. "We've been waiting for more of our kind," said the woman. She grabbed a lock of Keeva's hair and sniffed it. "You have very little Sheikah blood in you, but it still counts." The woman, still holding Keeva's hair, began to walk back to one of the house. Wincing, Keeva reluctantly followed. She thought about hitting the woman and running, but she figuired making sudden movements would be unwise.

She walked into a house that was completely empty except for five mats and a fireplace. Four of these mats had a man sitting it, each of them with the same white hair and blood red eyes as the woman. They looked a lot like her, but about 5-10 years younger, and a lot more stern. Keeva felt a twinge of awkwardness and fear as they stared her down.

"I believe I've found one," said the woman. Keeva's fear increased tenfold. The woman turned towards her. "Where are you from?"

The question took Keeva by surprise. "I don't know, actually," she said in a quiet voice.

The old woman did not smile. "Who are your parents?"

"I don't know…"

"I see. Well you are one of us, I can smell it."

"Who exactly are you?"

"My name is Impazina. I am one of the few remaining Sheikahs."

Keeva recognized the word frome earlier, when Impazina was sniffing her hair. She didn't know what it meant, but if she had Sheikah blood in her like Impazina claimed, she wanted to know more. "What is a Sheikah?"

The old woman sighed. She looked at the girl, who clearly knew nothing about herself. "Come, child, you have a lot to learn. Let's go to the graveyard." She grabbed Keeva's hand and led her out of the building.

Keeva walked into the graveyard. Something about the place sent chills straight down her spine. The Kakariko graveyard had two big tombstones, one in the front and one in the back, and many little ones scattered in rows. The big tombstones had the Royal Family's insignia, the Triforce, etched into it. She thought this was odd.

"Does this place feel strange to you?" asked the old woman mysteriously.

"I can hear whispers coming from the tombs. This happens whenever I go near a graveyeard. Is this because I am part Sheikah?" asked Keeva.

"Yes. This particular graveyard is the resting place of a few of your ancestors, the Skeikah. As a Sheikah, you have a connection to death and the shadows. Of course, not many of us are left, so Hylians consider us to be strange. Keeva did not respond, trying to figurie how hearing an seeing the dead could be considered normal. Impazina pulled her from her thoughts by asking a simple question. "What's your name?"

"Keeva," she responded quietly.

"A, yes, a beautiful Sheikah name, " said Impazina as she looked out into the sky, as if looking for something. "What happened to your parents?" she asked suddenly.

"My mom died - well at least I think she died - when I was not even a year old. I never knew anything about my father."

"Hm. Family ties are very important to us Sheikah. I mean, maybe if we were more careful, we would... nevermind. Anyway, I told you earlier my name was Impazina. I was named after the greatest Sheikah ever born, Impa. Do you know who she is?"

"I think I do," said Keeva, remembering her classes at the orphanage. "She was of the sages during the era of the Hero of Time. I assume she was the sage of the temple of the Sheikahs."

"Correct. She was the sage of the Shadow Temple, which is located here in this graveyard. The temple still exists the same as ever, but over the years sages have died and their children have taken over. Sadly, for a century now, the bloodline of the Shadow sage has become untraceable and we do not know who the current sage is. Therefore, as Sheikahs, it is our duty to protect the Shadow Temple. We must find the Shadow sage, the long lost decendant of the great Impa. As a Sheikah, it is your duty to help us find the sage."

"Well," said Keeva, "I can help you with that later. I, um, kind of have something going on right now." Impazina frowned angrily at her.

"Oh, whatever could be more important than saving your race?" replied Impazina in a sarcasticly-sweet voice. Her tone made Keeva really nervous. She was already shy to begin with, and the prospect of being looked down upon by Impazina made her even more shy.

"Well, uh, Castle Town was being attacked when I escaped, and, um, I was hoping to go back and help." Impazina's expression changed from anger to a look of pure shock and worry.

"Oh.. so that's what that meant... we forwar this but why so soon... and.." she stopped, realizing she was talking to herself. "Listen, Keeva, could you stay here for a second? I must alert the other Sheikah. I'm afraid we have a problem. I'll be right back." Impazina ran off in a hurry, her blacks robes swishing behind her.

Keeva looked at the stone in front of her. It was a tribute to the Sheikah that died for the Royal Family. There were so many tombstones in the graveyard. Were all of them Sheikahs? If so, how did so many of them die?

"I sent my brothers off on an important task," she said. "As for you, I need to to come with me. We have to go to the Temple of Time. Hurry!" Impazina grabbed her hand (not her hair this time) and ran out of the village with her. When they reached the remains of the broken-down entrance gate, they heard a loud explosion.

They walked into castle town and saw that it was deserted. Keeva knew the fate of most of the townspeople; she could feel their spirits in the area. Keeva looked over at the orphanage. The windows and doors were busted, but otherwise it looked alright. She prayed that her friends at the orphanage made out okay. Among the spirits, she did not know which ones were friends an which were strangers. A spirit is a spirit. Impazina tugged on Keeva's brown skirt and pointed up. Hyrule Castle was on fire.

"I sent my brothers there on a mission," said Impazina sadly. "I hope they are alright."

"I'm sure they are," Keeva reassured. Impazina led her into the Temple of Time. There were black charred marks on the floor, which meant that somebody tried to burn this place down from the inside, just like Hyrule Castle. However, the Temple of Time was a building protected by the gods. It could not be destroyed.

Impazina gasped aloud. Keeva whirled around to look and see what Impazina gasped for. She followed Impazina's gaze to the Door of Time. It was open. The two slowly walked near the entrance to get a good look inside. What they saw inside made both of them distraught.

_The Master Sword was missing._


	3. Luke and the Master Sword

"Uh oh," whispered Keeva. The Master Sword was missing, and there was no telling who had it.

"This is bad," said Impazina glumly. "Whoever opened the door and took the Master Sword probably has the four sages captured."

"What four sages? I thought all of the sages are unawakened."

"No, Keeva, listen. Saria, who was the first Forest sage and helped the Hero of Time, is alive today. She is a child of the forest, a Kokiri, so she cannot die."

"I thought Kokiris die only if they leave the forest?"

"Yes, but she is a sage, so she is the exception to that rule. She will forever be the Forest sage. Also at the time of the Hero of Time was the sage of Fire, Darunia, and the sage of Water, Ruto. Well, because they are both royalty, their family lines still exist today, and are known. The Prince of the Gorons is the Fire sage, and the Princess of the Zoras is the water sage. Also, Princess Zelda XXVII is the seventh sage, who is the sage of The Sages. I hope she is alright."

"What about the other three sages?" asked Keeva.

"The decendants of Impa, Nabooru and Rauru are unknown. Out duty was to find the decendant of Impa. Now we must also find the other two sages. We have to find them before evil does. By the way, Keeva, who exactly is causing all of this?"

"I don't know. They looked very foreign. They had tan skin and green hair. They were all males, too."

"At least the Gerudos kept their word," Impazina muttered to herself. Impazina grabbed Keeva's hand and they left. They walked outside and saw one of Impazina's brothers sitting by the fountian. He definatley looked worse for wear. In is arms, he was holding a periwinkle blanket. Impazina spotted him and quickened her pace.

When she got close, Keeva saw that he was all scratched and bruised. She looked at the blanket and saw a very pretty, blue-eyed and light blonde-haired baby was in the blanket. Keeva wondered he found this baby abandoned in one of the houses. She wondered if this baby would end up like her, in the orphanage, with nothing but a name.

"Darahn, what are you doing? Who is this baby for?" asked Impazina impatiently.

"This is Princess Zelda. You asked us to rescue her, right?" questioned Darahn.

"Impossible. Princess Zelda is twenty-five years old!" yelled Impazina.

"Princess Zelda XXVII was twenty-five. This is Princess Zelda _XXVIII_." Keeva and Impazina's eyes went wide with shock. Since when did Princess Zelda have a child?

"What happened to Princess Zelda XXVII?" asked Keeva nervously.

"She died, along with our brothers, Impazina." said Darahn sadly. Impazina closed her fists tightly for a few seconds.

"At least they died a noble death," she said sadly. "Tell me more about Princess Zelda."

"When we found her, she was trying to escape with her baby. She said her child was only one month old, that's why the public did not know about her yet. She said she valued her baby's safety above her own. She handed the baby to me and told me to escape. So I left and put the baby in a safe place, in the Great Fairy's Fountain. When I left the cave, I saw the whole castle was on fire, and about to crumble. I went back, took the baby, and fled. I saw you two go into the Temple of Time, so I waited here."

"Well, I don't know what's worse," said Impazina. "The fact that the Master Sword is gone, or the fact that Princess Zelda isn't even potty trained yet."

"They both suck," said Darahn. "So what do we do now?"

"Let's go to the Gerudo Desert to look for the Spirit Sage," suggested Impazina. "That will be the easiest sage to find." The three of them walked out of Castle Town, with Princess Zelda in tow.

As they walked out of the town, Keeva saw a young boy with a fairy approach them. Impazina and Darahn must have noticed as well, because they sat there wide-eyed. As the boy drew near, Keeva realized the boy was Luke, the smart boy from the orphanage. His green shirt was all torn up, and his brown pants had spots of blood. Luke must have recognized Keeva, because he smiled.

"Keeva!" he called. "You're alive!" Keeva was never really close to Luke, but that didn't matter now. Chances were they were the last orphans left. They embraced and Keeva felt something on his back. She looked and realized it was a sword. The Master Sword.

"Oh my.. Luke, no," said Keeva. "You aren't, are you?" she asked him, pointing to the Master Sword. He smiled a small, crooked smile. Darahn and Impazina awaited his answer in horror.

"Yeah, I am. See, this fairy appeared to me and showed me through the fog. I found a ladder and climbed over it to escape. The fairy, Mitzi, led me to the Great Deku Tree. The Great Deku Tree said that I was chosen to save Hyrule. It is such an honor; I am still in shock."

"How did you get the sword?" asked Impazina.

"Saria - you know, the Forest Sage - had all three spiritual stones and the Ocarina of Time. So I got the Master Sword and returned to the forest to prove to the Deku Tree that I was able to pull the sword, which meant that I was accepted by the gods. And though I am only fourteen, the gods thought I was old enough, so I did not get sealed away in time. I was afraid that I'd be sealed like the Hero of Time was, since he was only ten. Anyway, the Great Deku Tree said that since the Temples are not infested by monsters, the sages will be able to hear the awakening call."

"The awakening call?" asked Darahn and Impazina.

"Yes," said Luke. "The Song of the Sages, played on the Ocarina of Time, sends a call to awaken all unawakened sages. This song only works if the Temples of the sages are pure and free of evil. That is why 200 years ago, the Hero of Time had to clean out all of the Temples to get the sages."

"Luke, we have a serious problem," interrupted Keeva. "This is Princess Zelda," she said, pointing to the baby. Luke's mouth dropped and Mitzi flew back and forth in alarm. She must have said something to Luke, because he nodded and she flew away.

"She is going to alert the Deku Tree," said Luke. "Keeva, how did you escape Castle Town?"

"The same way you did," she answered.

"How did you see through the fog?"

"Well, voices guided me. See, Luke, I just found out I'm part Shiekah." Luke looked at her in wonder. He stared into her eyes for a bit, too. Keeva felt very awkward. After what felt like an eternity, Luke said, 'Yeah, I can see it. Your eyes are dark red, after all."

Mitzi flew back to them in a millisecond. She spoke to Luke, but Keeva could only hear dings. By the looks of Darahn and Impazina, they could only hear dings too.

"Mitzi says we have to talk to Princess Zelda." Everyone gave Mitzi a confused look. She dinged again. "The _XXVII_," Luke corrected for them.


	4. Baby Zelda and the Ocarina

"That's where we need the help of the Sheikah elder and shaman." Impazina shook her head.

"I've tried contacting the Great Impa," she said, "to find out who her decendant is, but I have had no such luck. So what makes you think I can contact Zelda XXVII?"

Mitzi dinged in response. Luke translated it to be, "Sheikah can only talk to dead members of the Royal Family. That's why they are in allegiance with Hyruleans. Didn't you know that?"

"No, I didn't," said Impazina quietly.

"Well," asked Keeva, "how do you do summon the dead?"

"We need to go back to Kakariko," said Impazina.

Everyone nodded in agreement and they walked over to Kakariko Village. The sun was beginning to set, which meant that time was of the essence. Keeva, Impazina, Darahn and baby Zelda, Luke, and Mitzi entered the Kakariko graveyard. They all looked over to Impazina as if she knew what to do. Impazina looked to Mitzi the fairy. "What now?" She asked her. Mitzi dinged a few times. Impazina frowned and turned to Luke.

"Why can I understand her all of a sudden?" she asked him.

"Because she trusts you now," Luke replied. "Fairies make their voices known to only those who they trust." Luke turned to Darahn and Keeva. "We have to leave," he said. "This is a private ritual." Keeva, Darahn with the baby, and Luke left the graveyard.

After about ten minutes, Impazina emerged from the graveyard with Mitzi following close behind. Impazina looked as if she just saw a ghost. Odds were, she did.

"Sister, what happened?" asked Darahn. Impazina raised her hand to him - a signal known by the Sheikah to mean silence.

"I spoke to the dead Princess," she said. "First, we must get the Ocarina of Time from Saria, the Forest Sage. Then, we must go to the Temple of Time and Luke must play the Song of Time. After that, Zelda said the rest will be up to little Zelda here."

"But she's a baby," said Darahn.

"Don't questions the will of gods," said Luke harshly. "Let's go the forest. Come on, we don't have a lot of time." Mitzi took off flying towards the forest so fast that the others (minus baby Zelda, of course) had to jog to catch up. Soon the group found themselves entering the Kokiri forest. There were a few children dressed in green watching them carefully. Keeva could have sworn she heard one of them mutter something about "Lost Woods" and "Stalfos." As Mitzi flew easily to the top of the cliffs, the others had to climb the vines to reach the top. This was especially hard for Darahn because he was holding a baby, who must have found his struggles amazing because she was giggling. Finally, the group stood before the entrance of the Lost Woods.

"Remember," said Luke, "follow Mitzi. She'll go slow for us. Do not get left behind, or you might turn into a monster."

Keeva wanted to question Luke about the monster bit, but she decided now was not the time, because everyone was entering the woods. As Keeva made her way through the woods, she wondered how many people got lost in there. The foliage was so thick that you could not pass through it. You could only pass through large logs that cut through the trees. It was set up as a large maze. There was also a creepy song playing in the distance, which added to the overall scare factor. Keeva definitely did not want to come here ever again.

Finally the group entered a place that Luke called the "Sacred Forest Meadow." Luke said the temple was close. After navigating a mini maze filled with giants that Darahn and Impazina managed to stun with some sort of magic, Keeva and the others ran up some stairs and saw a girl sitting on a log.

Keeva recognized her almost immediatly from the pictures she saw during one of the many History classes at the orphanage. It was Saria. Everything was just how she imagined- The green onesie, the green hair and eyes, the pale skin and beautiful smile. It was all there. "I wasn't expecting you, Luke, or any of these people, but it's a pleasure. May I ask why you are all here?"

"Princess Zelda needs the Ocarina," said Impazina. "This baby," she pointed to baby Zelda, "is Princess Zelda. The other one, well, is no longer with us."

Saria frowned and handed Impazina the Ocarina. "Well, everyone dies I suppose. She's not the first Princess Zelda that died, and she won't be the last. It's never a happy thing though," she said, and her child-like features filled with sadness. "We can't sit here and dwell on it though. Whatever you need to do, please do it quickly. I sense a disturbance arising. If you need me to, I can warp you to the Temple of Time, but that is the only place."

"That would be perfect," said Luke. Saria played a song that Keeva knew she heard before, but could not remember the name. As Saria played, a green light enveloped them and they vanished. And just like that, they were in the Temple of Time.

"Keeva," said Luke, "did you recognize that song?"

"Um, it sounded kind of familiar. Why?" she asked.

"That was the Minuet of Forest. They played it for us in class once, remember? It sounds way better when the sage plays it, though." Luke sighed and looked into the sacred chamber that used to hold the Master Sword.

Impazina nearly interrupted him. "We need to go in here. Follow me," she said. Everyone walked into the chamber that used to hold the legendary sword. Impazina instructed Darahn to place baby Zelda on the pedestal. She handed Luke the ocarina. "Play the Song of Time."

Luke did as instructed and a bright, unnaturally white light poured through the ceiling onto baby Zelda. The light grew and blinded everyone. Keeva put up her arm to sheild her face, but the light faded. As she put her arm down, she gasped.

Baby Zelda was no longer a baby. She was a young girl of about eight or nine. She had the basic traits of the royal family: very light blonde hair, very fair skin, bright blue eyes and pink lips. She was beautiful. "Don't worry," she said, "my mom spoke to me." She sounded very mature. "I'll turn back into a baby after I do this task. And I won't remember any of this." She put the ocarina to her lips and played a melody that none of them, not even the wise Impazina, had ever heard of. The Song of Sages, Keeva guessed. After the song ended, the light flashed again.

This time, the light brought two surpises. One was that Princess Zelda was still a child, and not an infant. The other was the appearnce two new people who both looked somewhat disoriented. One of them was a Gerudo girl who was roughly the same age as Keeva, perhaps a few months older. The other, a boy, looked about twelve years old. He had blonde hair and hazel eyes. He looked Hylian.

The Gerudo lifted her hand to a necklace she was wearing. It was an orange disk. After the girl moved her hand away, Keeva saw that the Spirit symbol was printed on the disk. "I spoke to a Princess," said the Gerudo. Her voice was strong and independent. "She told me that my ancestor had an important job, and I must follow in her footsteps. She told me I am the Spirit Sage. My name is Maisha (My-ee-sha) and I hail from the Gerudo desert. The princess told me to stick with you guys."

Keeva looked over Maisha and felt jealousy arise within her. Maisha seemed to be everything she wanted to be - confident, outgoing and fierce. Keeva was shy and insecure.

"My name is Lumo," said the boy next to her. "I am the sage of Light... apparently." He showed them his Medallion, and gave it to Luke. "You'll need it," he said. The Gerudo, Maisha, gave her necklace to Luke as well.

"Do great things with it," she said. She smiled at Luke.

"Zelda," asked Impazina, "you are still a child. What is going on?"

"There is a sage missing. I cannot go back to normal until the last sage has been found," she said.

"Hm," Impazina thought aloud. "The Sage of Shadow is missing." She turned to Luke. "Luke, I'm going to play the Nocturne of Shadow. Perhaps the Shadow Temple has evil in it. Hopefully you will be able to purge the temple of such evil. May the gods be with you." She lifted the ocarina to her lips, but her brother Darahn interupted.

"Impazina, this boy cannot hope to survive without the Lens of Truth. He is not a Sheikah - he cannot see what we would in that horrible place. Let me go with him."

"I cannot allow this, brother," said Impazina. "I need you to train the new sages. Keeva, can you go with Luke? You are part Sheikah; you can see the horrible truth within the temple."

"I'll go with him," agreed Keeva.

"I must warn you, Keeva and Luke," said Impazina in a serious tone, "the Shadow Temple is the worst of all. It is the temple that portrays the horrors of Hylian past. This is why we Sheikah are connected to it: it is the Temple of Death."

With those words, Impazina played the Nocturne of Shadow and a purple light swallowed up Keeva and Luke.


	5. The Shadow Temple

Keeva and Luke landed on a balcony that overlooked the Kakariko graveyard. They were standing on an ancient stone that had the symbol of Shadow carved into it. They stepped off of the stone pad and walked down the stairs into the Shadow Temple. The door was closed, and the room was filled with empty torches.

"Great," said Luke. "Now what?"

"Light the torches?" Keeva guessed.

"There's got to be at least twenty of them! Here- I have matches." Luke struck a match and handed it to Keeva, and struck another for himself. "Let's get to work." Luke lit the torch nearest to him, but when Keeva lit her torch his went out. Luke then lit his torch again, in which Keeva's went out.

"Well," said Keeva, "This is pointless. I think these torches have Sheikah magic on them. I don't know how to get rid of it, since I'm fairly new at being a Sheikah. I don't know what to do. Maybe you have to light them all at once or something? Is that even possible?"

"Hmm, I could try something Saria gave me. She said it's dangerous, so you should leave the room." Keeva frowned and went back to the graveyard balcony. She looked down into the room to wait for a sign from Luke. Out of nowhere, an orange light flashed from the room and a heat wave passed over Keeva. She quickly ran into the room to see Luke standing in the middle of the room with a big grin on his face. All of the torches were lit and the door was open.

"Woah, Luke, what the hell?" Keeva asked him. He shrugged and pointed to the entrance.

The temple was defiently creepy. It was dark and musty, and Keeva could hear the cries and pleas of dying people. She wondered if Luke could hear them, too. They walked in further and saw the walls were smeared with blood, and there a huge hole in the ground."Great," said Keeva, "more." Luke took out this strange harpoon-looking thing and asked Keeva to hold onto him. Before she knew it, they crossed the gap.

"What is that?" she asked.

"A hookshot," he responded cheerfully. Then he suddenly frowned and pointed. "Dead end. What a creepy painting." Keeva looked up, but she saw a room with four torches. One was lit.

"Um, okay, it's obviously not a dead end. And there is no painting," said Keeva.

"What are you talking about? You are standing right in front of the painting staring at it!"

"No, there's a room!"

"No, it's a dead end!"

"There's no sense in arguing, so watch me." Keeva walked into the room.

"What? Keeva, you just walked through a wall!" exclaimed Luke. Impatiently, Keeva grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. "Woah, IJUSTWENTTHROUGHAWALL." yelled Luke incoherently. Suddenly he stopped. "Did you hear that, Keeva?"

"Hear what?"

"A creepy voice! It just said 'the shadow will yeild only to the eye of truth found in Kakariko'."

"Um, I don't know, maybe it's the dead messing with you because you are not a Sheikah," Keeva teased. "So, Luke, what is it we have to do in this place?"

"Purify it. That means kill some monsters. Shouldn't be that bad, nothing compared to what the Hero of Time did. Besides, you're just here as my guide. You know, to see through walls? Anyway, I don't think you'll do any killing. You're unarmed."

Keeva realized she was unarmed and felt a little scared. "Do you have a safe weapon I could use?"

"I have a boomerang, but I don't know how effective that is." Before Luke could protest, Keeva took the boomerang. She gribbed one edge and slashed it through the air.

"You're supposed to throw it, silly," Luke laughed.

Ignoring Luke's comment, Keeva walked to the door. Because the Hero of Time cleared all of the traps in the temple 200 years ago, there was nothing to do. The traps had to be reset by the Sage, and by the look of things, no Sage ever reset the temple. However, as they progressed through the temple and found a door sealed shut, Keeva realized that someone had retrned to set up traps in the depths of the temple.

"Any Sheikah tips?" asked Luke.

"Break it down," suggested Keeva hopelessly.

"Okay." Luke took his sword out and banged the hilt against the door. Nothing. Then he took out a bomb and blew up the door and a small hole appeared. "Something is in there," said Luke. Luke was about to look through the hole when Keeva heard a voice:

"_Don't let him near it._" It was the voices of the dead she always heard. But now, she knew why - it was part of her Sheikah heritage. "No! Luke! Stop!" Keeva pulled him back. "Don't look in there. It's dangerous."

"How do you know?" Keeva hesitated in answering him.

"The dead told me... no, don't look at me like that! It's part if being a Sheikah, I assure you! Now, I'm going to look in there." Keeva looked in the room and gasped. There were millions of zombies in the room; an endless sea of them. "Luke, there are zombies everywhere."

"Zombies?" He thought for a minute. "You mean redeads? Did you even pay attention in class?"

"Not everyone can be smart like you. Now use those smarts and kill the zombies."

"Redeads can't be killed easily. I have to use my sword. But there's so many, I'll get mobbed and strangled."

"_The redeads can sense Luke's presence.I f he enters he will surely die. You must go in there and destroy the zombies. You are a Sheikah, so they will not harm you. They think you are one of them. Take his sword._" Keeva frowned. Were the dead trying to get her to join them? Probably.

"Luke," she started. "I swear, I'm not crazy. Give me your sword- I have to kill them. Don't say anything and trust me. And do not step in that room."

He handed her his sword. "Don't die."

"I'll try." She stepped into the sea of zombies. They didn't notice her. She took the sword and poked one, and it didn't even flinch.

"Just kill it!" yelled Luke. The zombies started to groan.

"Luke shut up! You'll die if you don't stay quiet!" Keeva stabbed the zombie and it fell to the floor. She repeated this about 100 times.

"Keeva, there has to be a faster way. Use this." Luke helf a crystal diamond with a flame inside. He stepped into the room.

"LUKE GET OUT!" Keeva screamed, but it was too late. The zombies started to close in on him. Two of them appeared by the door and held him. One of the zombies Keeva missed reached Luke and started strangling him. She ran over to him and cut down all three zombies. Being a novice, she accidentally cut Luke''s arm in the process. He screamed and let out a few nasty words. "Sorry, Luke, but you should have listened to me." She glanced at his wound, which was starting to bleed. She heard some more groans and realized the zombies were after him, she took the fire crystal from him and ran next to the zombies. She threw the crystal on the ground.

Fire exploded around her and burnt all of the zombies to a crisp. The wave of fire died out before hitting Luke, but he still felt the heat wave. Keeva ran over to him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "It was either get hurt by your ameatuer sword skills, or strangled by a zombie. It's kinda bleeding a bit, thought." Keeva ripped off a peice of his shirt and tied it around his arm. "That was my favorite shirt," he joked.

"Haha," Keeva said. "Let's go. We need to find the sage of this creepy place."

"Yeah," agreed Luke, "I'm dying to know."

Keeva and Luke made their way back to the Temple of Time. It was nighttime, and they were exhausted.

"Well! Good to see you're both alive, although Luke is a bit hurt," said Impazina as she checked out Luke's cut. "This is a minor injury. It should heal with a night's rest. We're going to sleep here, but first, we are going to find the Shadow sage. Did you rid the Temple of the monsters?"

"Yes," said Keeva. "It was infested with redeads."

"Oh," said Impazina. "That happens every once in a while. The sage usually cleans them out."

"I'm going to play the song again," interrupted Zelda. She put the ocarina to her lips and played the Song of Sages. The song did not sound the same as last time, Keeva noticed. The notes were distorted, and the song made her feel dizzy. Maybe she was tired? She closed her eyes.

She opened her eyes and she was surrounded by blue clouds. Princess Zelda XXVIII was there, in her child form. She gasped when she saw Keeva.

"Oh my," she said. "This is a surprise. But it saves Darahn and Impazina some time."

"What?" said Keeva, still dizzy and disoriented. This was once heck of a dream.

Princess Zelda smiled at her. "Keeva, _you_ are the Shadow sage."


	6. The Spirit Temple

Everything snapped back into place. Keeva felt more alert than ever. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. _She did not hear correctly._

"I'm...what?"

"The Shadow sage," said Zelda. She held out the Shadow Medallion, just like Keeva saw in class. Except this was the real thing.

"No way," Keeva said as she took the medal. "I'm only part Sheikah though."

"Yes," said Zelda, "your father was half Sheikah. He died in battle the night your Hylian mother discovered she was pregnant. She thought he stopped loving her and decided to stop seeing her. She never knew he died."

"Did my father know that he was the Shadow sage?"

"No," said Zelda. "You're great-grandmother was the last Shadow sage to know. She died young, before she could tell your grandfather about his duty as a sage. I believe he was two when she died. Anyway, listen, Keeva. We will appear on the pedestal in the Temple of Time. You are still in the Temple of Time, but once I change back into a baby you will appear to be holding me. They will question how you got there. Show them the medallion that will be around your neck. And do not be afraid."

Keeva wanted to ask more, so much more about her father, but Zelda clapped her hands and the blinding white light was back. She was standing in the Temple of Time holding baby Zelda. Impazina, Darahn, Maisha, Lumo, and Luke were giving her strange looks. Mitzi was zooming back and forth. Keeva heard her voice, high-pitched and squeaky. Now that she was a sage, Mitzi knew she could be trusted.

"You were just next to me, Keeva, how did you get there?" asked Luke. Impazina and Darahn waited for an answer. Keeva handed the baby to Darahn and she put her hand at her neck. She felt a chain that was not there before. She yanked the medallion off the chain. It must have been magical because the medallion came off but the chain didn't break.

"Does this answer your question?" She showed them the medallion. All three of them gasped. Darahn almost dropped baby Zelda. Impazina grabbed the medallion in horror.

"No way," she said. "I dont... how... not possible... fully.. Sheikah," was all that Keeva could understand. Luke stood there gaping at her, and Darahn tried to silence the crying Zelda that was not happy about almost being dropped. Maisha and Lumo stared at her medallion with understanding. Keeva wondered what Zelda had told them when she told them of their fate.

"Zelda told me my dad was part Sheikah, ang was a warrior," Keeva said. "She also said one of my ancestors died when the heir was two years old, that's how the knowledge was lost."

"Oh, honey," said Impazina, "I wish I could tell you who your dad was, but there are probably many part-Sheikahs out there. I just never knew they had the capability of becoming a Sage."

Mitzi dinged. Everyone who could understand her heard her say "Since there aren't many Sheikah, the only way to keep the bloodline going is by mixing between races. Keeva might be mostly Hylian, but the Sheikah in her is destined to be a sage."

"Now that we found the last sage, what now?" asked Maisha.

"We have to find the theives that raided Castle Town yesterday," said Darahn, "before they cause more damage to the other parts of Hyrule.

Maisha stapped forward. "Theives? Like the ones that attacked the Gerudo last night? I was in the middle of fighting when I was brought here. They probably thought I died. Can we go back to the Gerudo desert? I can bring us there, I've caught on to my abilities."

"I don't think it would be wise for a newly awakened sage to teleport others," warned Impazina.

"Don't argue with me, you old hag!" yelled Maisha impatiently. "My people need me, and I don't care what you have to say. I'm going, and I'm taking all of you with me." She snapped her fingers and a puff of orange blinded everyone.

Keeva pulled herself up off of the ground. She was covered in... sand? _She was in the desert._ She looked around and saw nothing but sand. Lying next to her were Luke and Lumo. Maisha was kneeling over and gently shaking him.

"Get the other up for me, will you?" asked Maisha. "I was supposed to bring everyone here... but it took a lot of power. So I chose the sages, and this boy with the Master Sword. I would have taken Zelda, but she is a baby. Oh, my people will not be pleased about the baby..." she trailed. She looked around at the desert. "I miscalculated. We're in the haunted wasteland, which is right next to the Gerudo desert.

"What's that?" asked Lumo, who just got up, along with Luke.

"The poe should appear soon," Maisha said. "Only Gerudo can see the poe. Of course, the Hero of Time saw the poe. I don't remember why, I think he used Sheikah magic. So maybe you'll be able to see it to, Shadow Sage."

Keeva had to tak a moment to realize Maisha was talking about her. The whole sage business didn't click with her yet. "Yeah," Keeva said, "he did. But the poe only leads to the Temple, which won't help us."

"No! The temple is the best way to go! I need to get there," said Maisha suddenly. "The temple will make us stronger, you'll see why. Can you take us there, Keeva?"

"I can't see anything. It's dark, and sand is blowing everywhere. And poes are hard to see anyway. I can't do this."

"Hey, Maisha," said Lumo, "you can find the temple. You're the sage. It should be second nature to you to find your temple. Just use your instincts."

"Hmm," thought Maisha. "Okay, follow me then." Maisha looked around, set her eyes on a particular location, and went that direction. Everyone followed behind her, hoping she knew what she was doing. Soon enough, the sand was not blowing and they could see the temple. The sun was beginning to rise, and it was beautiful.

"Wow," said Keeva, "it's beautiful." She looked at the statue of the goddess of sand. This was way prettier than the Shadow temple. "I hope it's beautiful inside, too." It was. The temple had some stone scupltures of cobras inside, alone with some writing in ancient Hylian, which she could not read. And there was no blood on the walls, unlike the Shadow Temple.

"Hey!" Maisha yelled suddenly. Out of the right side of the temple, two theives ran out with machetes. Not Gerudo theives, the dangerous theives of Castle Town. How Maisha knew they were in there, she did not know. "Looks like we have company." Maisha drew a wooden spear that was hanging off of her back, and Luke grabbed his master sword. Keeva and Lumo were unarmed. "Stay back, you two, Luke and I will take them," she called. They both backed away, they didn't need to be told twice.

With her large wooden spear, Maisha charged into battle. Keeva could tell she had plenty of expeirince fighting because she was fairing well against the theif. Luke, however, was not. He stuggled to block the repeated attacks from the theif. For the first time, Keeva got to see what the theives looked like. For one, they had small ears, which meant they were not Hylian. They had dark green hair, orange eyes, and pale skin. They had purple bandanas on their heads, which were strange. Her attention switched back to Luke when he was almost cut across his throat by the theif's machete. He would not last long.

Keeva looked around and noticed some brown pots by the entrance. Thinking quickly, she threw one at Luke's opponent. The put broke across his face, and he grabbed his face, startled. The break in fighting gave Luke an advantage. With a mighty swing of the Master sword, the theif was slashed across the side. Because he was hit by the Master Sword and not an ordinary sword, he vanished in a puff of smoke. Keeva looked over to Maisha was just as she was about to make the final blow on her opponent. Lumo must have followed Keeva's lead and threw a pot at him, because he had cuts all over his face, and there were brown shards all over the floor by him. He fell to the floor in a bloodied mess as Maisha struck him deeply across the chest. Luke stabbed him with the Master Sword so his body could dissappear- a respectful but unncessary gesture. The feeling of death hung in the air until Maisha spoke.

"We should go. I know my way around this temple. Gerudos come here once a year to worship the goddess Din. Of course, I haven't been in every room, but I feel which way we should go. I can't explain it, but it has something to do with being a sage." The group followed Maisha through the beautiful temple. She came into a room where suns were painted across the wall. A light was shining through the wall.

Out of the light appeared four ghostly figures. Each walked over and stood in front of the kids. Keeva gasped as she recognized them all. They were Rauru, Nabooru, Impa, and the Hero of Time.

"Woah," said Lumo. "This is cool. How is this possible?"

"Well," said Maisha. "Their spirits came back to visit us. We are, after all, in the Spirit temple."

"But death is my thing.." said Keeva quietly.

"Hush, young ones," said Rauru. His voice was far away, yet it was loud as if he was speaking inside of her head. "You have done well. You were right in coming here. Here, you can see and hear us. That's what we have been waiting for since you have discovered the fate tied to your lineage."

The ghost form of Impa flew right up to Keeva. "Are you ready?" she asked. "I can't wait to show you the powers you never knew you had."


	7. Morbid Training

"Is my voice not familiar to you? I have been there for you, speaking to you in times of need," said Impa.

Keeva's eyes grew wide. "That was _you_? I never would have thought."

"It doesn't mattter now. Look me in the eyes, young one."

Keeva obeyed and looked into the ghostly Impa's blood red eyes and the room around her changed. She was in a new room, just like that. The room was somewhat big, and had a trench in the middle. She also noted the two random tombstones on the ground. Ghost Impa flicked her hand and two mummies rose from the tombstones. Keeva became fearful.

"I can sense you are afraid," said Impa calmly. "Don't be. Sheikah are the people of the dead. And as the Shadow Sage, you have extra command over the dead. You are the Master of Death. Or, as I preferred when I was alive, the Mistress of Death. These mummies will listen to you; speak to them."

"Hello," Keeva said to the mummies. There was no reaction.

"When I say speak, I mean give them a command."

"Go to the corner." Keeva tried not to laugh as the mummies hobbled over to the corner. She decided to amp up the morbidness of her commands. "Get rid of each other." One of the mummies immediatley got a chokehold on the other, who tried to struggle. The winning mummy walked over to the trench and went to release the other mummy. As the second mummy fell, it grabbed onto the other mummy's bandaged leg and they both fell into the dark and bottomless trench. Keeva giggled.

"Time to move on. See those flowers over there?" Impa asked. Keeva glanced over to the small patch of pink pansies growing over one of the tombs and nodded. "Kill them. But you are not allowed to touch them physically. Look at them and concentrate on death. It may take a while, but don't give up."

Keeva gave the flowers a death glare. Nothing happened. "No, you're concentrating on anger!" yelled Impa. "Concentrate on death!" Keeva tried to imagine the flowers wilting, but nothing happened. She looked at them thoughtfully, and imagined the the flowers had a heart. She imagined herself stabbing the heart. Slowly, the flowers started to wilt.

"Good," said Impa. "Now, imagine yourself dying. You'll see what happens" Keeva tried to imagine her life leaving her body, but nothing happened. She tried to flower technique: she imagined herself comitting suicide. She felt a piercing, unnatural coldness wipe overself. All of the air in her lungs seem to fade away. "Don't be alarmed; look at yourself."

Keeva lifted her arm to look at herself, and screamed. _It was nothing but bone! _her skin, veins, and pretty much everything else was gone. Impa shook her head and summoned a clear white fog into the room. Keeva looked into it, and saw a skeleton. _She was a skeleton! _That wasn't possible, because she could still hear and see. What about her other senses? Keeva louched her left arm to her right arm. She couldn't feel it. She let out a long, drawn out scream of terror.

"Calm down! It's not permanent!" screeched Impa impatiently. "Imagine yourself being filled with blood and flesh. You'll come back." Keeva closed her eyes, and suprisingly her vision darkened as if se still had eyelids. She imagine blood covering her bones and being wrapped in flesh. Her bones felt hot, and her lungs filled with air again. She knew she was back.

"Don't be afraid of turning into a skeleton. It is the most powerful aspect of the Shadow Sage. While you are a skeleton, you have all of your human attributes except that you cannot feel anything. In this form cannot be killed easily because your vital organs are protected by the gods." Keeva really didn't understand what Impa meant by that.

"Am I invincible when I am a skeleton?" Impa frowned at the question.

"Not quite. If your skeleton head is severed, you will die. You need your bones. And being a skeleton does have downsides: slow reaction speed, less power because of your lack of muscles. I suggest turning skeleton right before you are hit with an attack. It takes practice, though. You might be able to transform fast enough to save your life. So I want you to practice that move when I take you back to Impazina."

Keeva's eyes widened. "I forgot about her, when are we going back?"

"When you complete your training. I have to teach you how to defend yourself. As a Sheikah, you are a natural born warrior. You will be a skilled close-range combatant when I am done with you." Impa flicked her hand and a mummy appeared out of the left tomb. Apparently after falling down the trench, it was reburied. "Don't bother controlling them, because I'll control them back. Besides, you don't have the skill to mentally command them, so all your verbal commands will be heard by me."

The mummy walked up to Keeva and swung at her. She covered her head and ducked to the floor. Impa let out a frustrated screech. "No! Block the attacks using your arms!" The mummy swung at keeva again, and she lifted her arm in it's way. The mummy's blow stopped when it came in contacts with her arm. It hurt a little, but not as bad as it would have it the blow connected with her face.

"Good! I'm going to give you gauntlets to wear; these are like sheilds worn on your arm. Sword and spear attacks can be blocked with the metal part. Use it with care." Impa sumoned the gauntlets and they fell to the ground. Keeva picked them up and put them on. The black leather fit over her plam and fit halfway up her lower arm. The metal part was a stunningly bright shade of purple. The shadow symbol was embedded on the metal. The gauntlets were beautiful.

"Let's test your offensive. Strike at the mummy with one fist, and nothing more." Summoning all the strength she could, Keeva swung at the mummy. She almost missed it, but she connected to it's shoulder and it sumbled backwards.

"That was decent, but not good enough for a Shadow sage," said Impa. "Find your fighting center. You have to see your enemy and channel an aggression towards them. Don't swing blindly; keep yourself focused, and target a weak spot on your opponent. Strike there with a normal amount of force. Be wary of a block. If your opponent blocks you, they may counter-attack. Remember your gauntlets and the skeleton technique."

Keeva memorized this bit of information as she looked at the mummy. It swung at her and she blocked with her gauntlets. She felt nothing. As the mummy pulled back his arm, she saw the perfect moment. She did a quick uppercut under the mummy's chin. She used moderate force, but she heard the bones crack. She would have been proud if it wasn't for the fact that the mummy's bones were old and could crack easily.

"Don't feel discouraged; that was great. For someone so new to this, you catch on fast. I would expect no less from a decednant tof mine. Remember your powers and use them in battle. Good luck, young one." The ghost form of Impa vanished and the room changed again. She was in the desert with Darahn, Maisha, Lumo, and Luke.

"Well, I go off looking for you four, and you all just appear in front of me. What the hell?" Darahn said to them.

"How long were we gone?" asked Lumo. Keeva noticed he had a small dagger that glowed slightly on his back. She looked at the others and noticed they were given things as well: Luke had a quiver on his back with a bow connected to it, and Maisha had two scimitars criss-crossed in their sheaths on her back. However, she was still holding her spear that she had before she visited the temples. "_Old habits die hard with Gerudos_," thought Keeva.

"Two hours. Impazina is in Kakariko with Zelda. She is none too happy with you, Maisha."

"Well," retorted Maisha, "we learned some important things in the Spirit Temple. We met the ancient sages there. And their training is far superior to yours. In fact, being trained by the most esteemed Nabooru is probably a higher honor than being trained by the Gerudo king, Agnam! And to think I'm decended from her!" She smiled a wide smile. "Maybe I'll received the titled of Exalted. The Exalted Maisha. I like that."

"Come on, you silly, imprudent girl, and explain that to Impazina," barked Darahn. "Foolish Gerudo. You are all so proud."

"Bite me, you racist bastard." snarled Maisha. She dropped her spear and grabbed her scimitars.

"Put those back, Maisha, no blood will be shed today!" yelled Luke.

Sadly, Luke was wrong. Darahn clutched his side and fell to the ground. There was a lot of blood coming from his wound. Keeva knew that he was in trouble. Angrily, she looked up at Maisha. She wanted to wring her neck for injuring a valuable ally. Maisha stared at Darahn in shock. She was still holding her clean scimitars.

Keeva looked back at Darahn, and noticed the end of an arrow appear as the bleeding slowed. Many of his vital organs were impaled; Darahn was as good as dead. Her suspcicions were confirmed when she felt the loss of life in his body. Judging by Maisha's face, she felt it too. Both girls then looked in the direction of the arrow, and she saw a theif - the same kind that had attacked Castle Town - wielding a large bow. He had another arrow aimed at Luke and Lumo, who were still staring at Maisha and Darahn's body in confusion. As soon as the theif's finger flinched, Keeva held out her arm and let the arrow hit her gauntlet. It left a scratch, but the scratch glowed a faint purple and disappeared. Impa wasn't kidding when she said they were invincible.

"Woah, that bracelet of your just saved my life!" said Lumo, who realized the cause of Darahn's death when he heard the arrow hit Keeva's gauntlet.

"That was unfortunate," said Maisha, who looked unphased by his death. "Keep your guard up, everyone. I don't want any of you to die - can't say the same for him though," she said, with a small glance at Darahn's body.

"Show some respect for the dead," said Keeva. Suddenly a thought popped in her head. _She was the Mistress of Death. _She turned to Darahn's corpse. "Get up." she told it. The others in her group nearly lost it when the lifeless body of Darahn got up off the ground. His eyes were closed, but you could tell his attention was on Keeva.

"Keeva, what in Din's name are you doing!" screamed Luke. He sounded freaked.

"Just warming up my powers, as the Great Impa said I should. Don't get freaked, I'm sure you all have bizarre powers too."

Maisha smiled breifly before dissappearing. 'Look," she said. Everyone looked at Darahn's body, the source of the voice. Darahn was smiling at them, his golden eyes playful. Golden eyes. Gerudo eyes. Maisha.

"Oh my godness, Maisha, are you inside of Darahn's body?" asked Luke, even more freaked.

"Hey," said Keeva, "get out of there." Suddenly, Darahn began to attack himself. His hand outstretched and Maisha appeared on the ground.

She pointed a finger at Keeva. "You kicked me out of his body."

"I told Darahn's body to get rid of you, which it did."

"You betetr not pull any of that funny Sheikah busienss when we go to battle or- what?" Maisha wanted to continue, but she, Keeva, and Luke were blinded by a pericing light. The three of them fell to ground.

"Do you three want to fight over of a dead body, or do you want to stop the theives?" said Lumo angrily. "I mean, if you want to sit here and play with Darahn's body, okay. They'll be plenty more dead bodies if you don't stop acting so foolish!" He was the youngest in the group at twelve, but was clearly the wisest.

"Lumo is right," said Luke, "although you two would make a great fighting pair, now is not the time to train. We're going back to Kakariko."

"Can we take Darahn with us?" Keeva joked. Maisha laughed, Luke and Lumo frowned. "I'm just kidding. We can use a different body to practice on. Let's go."

"I'm teleporting us this time," said Lumo. Keeva realized Impa did not teach her how to teleport. She would have to get either Impazina, Maisha, or Lumo to teach her.

The four of them dissapeared, and Darahn's body fell into the sand as Keeva's power drained from the corpse.


	8. Veda and the Water Temple

The group appeared in front of the Sheikah household in Kakariko. Clearly, Lumo was better at teleporting than Maisha. They entered the house, but it was empty. This sparked confusion and fear out of the children, until Luke found something.

"Look at this," he said, holding up some paper. "Impazina says that she took baby Zelda to Zora's Domain to find the Zora Princess."

"So I warped us here for nothing," yawned Lumo loudly. "I'm too tired to go to Zora's Domain." Luke nodded in agreement.

"We don't have time to sleep!" yelled Keeva. "People are dying!"

"I think they're right, Keeva," said Maisha softly. "_We'll_ die if we don't rest. We can't die, because we have to continue the bloodline of the sages."

"I don't know.." said Keeva. Maisha did have a point, but Keeva had a good point too. And she did want to argue with Maisha. With her strong Gerudo warrior will, she'd beat Keeva at any arguement.

The theif sensed Keeva's uncertainty. "We'll take a small two hour nap, at most, okay?" Maisha laid on one of the mats. "Even if you say no, I'm going to sleep." Luko ad Lumo each took a mat as well. Keeva figured by majority rule she had to rest as well. She could use some anyway. They rested and overslept by a few hours. Keeva was furious at them for insisting that they took a "small nap."

"Relax, Keeva," said the sleepy Lumo. "According to the sun, it's roughly 5:30, so it's only been three hours. I'm sure Impazina is fine. Can you warp us to Zora's domain?"

"I don't know how to do the sage warp thing," she admitted.

"Just imagine yourself flying to the domain. Picture it in your head. And you have others, so picture carrying them with you." Keeva took Lumo's advice and picture herself flying. She and the others turned into purple balls and rose in the air. It worked!

They landed on a small land chunk on the edge of a small lake. There was a door in front of them. "Hey, cool, I did it!" said Keeva in shock. Maisha slapped her hand against her forehead.

"No, you idiot," she said. "This is Lake Hylia. This door leads to the fishing hole. What were you thinking! This isn't Zora's Domain. I'll get us out of here." Maisha was about to teleport them away from the lake when they heard the screams of a little girl. The group turned around to see a Zora girl, about six or seven years old, swimming in the lake. She was being chased by a monster that looked like a small shark with jellyfish tentacles. She got out of the lake, but the creature was clearly not meant for land so it stayed on the banks of the lake. The girl stared at it in horror. Luke took out his bow, and took aim. It took him a few tries to hit the monster, but he killed it eventually.

"Sorry," he muttered, "I need practice." The group ran over to where the little girl was standing. She looked at them with gratitude - apparently she watched Luke shoot the monster.

"Thank you for saving me," said the girl. The shock of the incident was still in her voice, but other than that she sounded mature and educated despite her being a little girl. "I honestly don't know what that monster was. The Water Temple if full of them!"

"What is a little girl such as yourself doing in the Water Temple alone?" scolded Maisha.

The girl frowned. "Excuse me, but I always go to the Temple to pray alone. I've been doing so since I turned five."

"When was that, yesterday?" joked Maisha. "It's really dangerous in there!"

The girl stomped her foot in anger. "No need to be so rude!" she yelled. "Father says the Temple is safe for me because I am the Water Sage. I don't know what that means, but I suppose it's part of my princess duties." Maisha frowned and slightly bowed her head.

Her golden eyes went wide. "Sorry for being rude, Princess," said Maisha quickly.

Keeva had to struggle to hide a smirk. High-and-Mighty Maisha just bowed down to a five year old.

"S'okay," said the girl. "I'm Princess Veda of the Zoras, if that wasn't obvious. And I'm not five, I'm seven. Who are you?"

"We're sages just like you," said Keeva. "I'm Keeva of the Sheikah, the Shadow sage. This is Maisha of the Gerudo, the Spirit sage. That boy over there is Lumo, the Light Sage. And the boy with the bow is Luke. He is not a sage, but he is a hero nonetheless." Keeva felt it was necessary to add in that last line.

Princess Veda's eyes widened. "So you're all Princesses too, because you're sages?" Keeva and Maisha luked at Lumo, and burst out laughing.

"I'm not a princess," said Lumo darkly.

"Oh," said Princess Veda. "I have to go tell my dad what I found. It can't be anything good. Do you guys want to come? I can warp us there!" she exclaimed. Before they could answer, they were turned into blue lights and appeared in the throne room of the Zoras. Impazina was standing on the speaking post in the center with baby Zelda, and the king was on his throne.

"What the- VEDA!" King Zora schreeched, his deep voice ringing, "what are you doing here!" Keeva could swore she saw Imapzina's eyes narrow at the sight of Maisha. "I told you to never warp into the throne room, in case important guests were speaking! And we have a very important guest here! This is Princess Zelda, and her Sheikah attendant, Impazina."

Veda bowed quickly and interrupted. "Father, there are monsters that I've never seen or heard of before in the temple! One of the monsters chased me out, and would have gotten me if these people wouldn't have saved me!"

Impazina turned back towards the the King. "Your majesty, these were the sages I mentioned to you." The king widened his eyes.

"Well, then, Veda, you have done well. As for you sages, can I ask you to assist my daughter in defeating these monsters? She is powerful, but very young. Impazina tells me you are a powerful bunch. She says you even went as far as leaving her behind to further your training. A bold move, no doubt. Can you put what you learned to the test and cleanse the Water Temple for me?"

"Yes, sir. We will," said Keeva and Luke.

"One thing," said Impazina. "Where is Darahn? Is he still in Kakariko? That lazy bum..." Keeva felt a lump form in her throat.

"No, ah, I'm really sorry, Impazina, but he is dead. When he found us after we left the Spirit Temple, and he was shot by theif."

"Did you kill the thief for me?" she asked sadly.

"No, after he tried to shoot Lumo and Luke, he ran away... I'm sorry." Keeva wanted to say more, but the world turned blue, and suddenly she was underwater. Angrily, she swam to the surface and starting spluttering. She was in Lake Hylia.

"Veda! I was in the middle of a conversation! That was uncalled for!" yelled Keeva angrily. Princess Veda put her hands on her hips, despite being underwater. She could still stay afloat because of her Zora fins at her hips.

"First off, the Temple is in danger and you were sitting there yacking. Second, it's _Princess_ Veda to you." Keeva rolled her eyes, which Veda would have thrown a tantrum about if she saw. Princess Veda waved her arm and dove under the water. She swam through a hole in the rock. The othesr followed her. It was a long dive down, but Keeva felt fine. She swam through the hole and up into the temple, where she finally was able to fill her lungs with air. Maisha and Lumo were also able to swim with no problem well. Luke, however, came up for air and gasped for it like he couldn't get enough. His face was flushed and he grabbed his head.

"Can't... hold... breathlong... not... sage..." he gasped.

"We should have gotten him a Zora tunic," said Princess Veda. "Then he could breathe underwater and he wouldn't have to hold us back." Luke shot the Princess an evil look.

"Let's just go kill the things," said Maisha impatiently. They climbed out of the water onto the solid temple floor. Keeva had to pull Luke out because he was still recovering from almost drowning.

"How much more swimming do we have to do, Princess?" asked Luke.

"Just a little, but you don't have to go underwater. You all stand here and wait a bit, okay? I have to change the water level." Veda swam off and entered a door at the bottom of the temple that was barely visible. After a few minutes, the water level dropped completely. A few more minutes, and it went up a little bit. Princess Veda appeared at the surface. "Jump!" she called to them.

"Are you nuts?" asked Lumo. "That's a two story jump right there."

"Just do it," demanded the Princess. Keeva crossed her fingers and was the first to jump. Her body broke through the water in a fraction of a second. The water stung a little, but she was okay. She felt the water rock as her friends jumped after her. "Good. Now the monsters are through this door," said Veda as she hoisted herself onto the platform that floated on the water. She opened the door, and once everyone entered the room she closed it quickly so no monsters would escape like the previous one.

There were four tentacle-sharks in the room, two big, and two small like the one that chased Veda. Keeva figured the big two were the parents. One of the big sharks sniffed the air and looked at them. It whacked out two tenacles on either side of it. One headed for Luke, and the other headed for Keeva. Keeva held out her gauntlet by instict, and the tentacle hit it. Keeva felt a burning sensation all over her right arm and she fell to the floor. She heard Luke gasp and figured he befell the same fate as her.

Maisha grabbed both of their hands and pulled them up. "You idiots, the tentacles have electric powers. Electricity flows through metal, which is what your sheild and gauntlets are made from."

"You can only use long range weapons and wooden weapons," said Princess Veda.

"Shoot!" yelled Maisha. "I left my spear in the desert. It had a wooden handle; I could've used that." Luke drew his bow from his back. Maisha heard him and turned to him. "Be careful. If you shoot one, the others will attack, and we'll all be fried." Luke fired at the big one that electocuted him. The blow was a fatal hit, and the tentacle-shark fell over dead. The other one, possibly its mate, snarled and struck out a tentacle at Lumo. Lumo grabbed the tentacle, and the shark fell over.

"What did you just do?" asked Keeva, who was absolutley scared and confused.

"I redirected the electricity back to it," Lumo said. "Apparently I can do that." Luke took his sword and struck at it. The tentacle-shark's head came off, but unfortuatleu the body still had electicity. Luke's body jolted for a second until it fell into the water, limp.

"Help him, Princess!" screamed Keeva frantically. Veda dove into the water, but the two baby tentacle-sharks dove after her, very angry that their parents and sibling died. Maisha grabbed the handles on her scimitars, and let them fly as the left their sheath. Her arms criss-crossed and the scimitars flew in opposite directions. Each scimitar went clean through its tentacle-shark.

"That was great, Maisha," said Keeva. Maisha simply shrugged. Keeva noticed the scimitar reappeared into their sheaths. Spirit Sage magic, she supposed.

"Gerudo training. I do prefer my spear. I could have impaled both of them in one shot," she said. She bent down and helped little Veda pull Luke out of the water. Maisha flipped him over and he coughed up some water. She and Keeva slapped his arms, legs and cheeks so he could shake off the electic shock.

"Thanks, guys," he moaned. They left the room and waited on the platform until Veda raised the water level. The swam to the entrance, took a huge breath, and swam out into the lake.

Impazina and King Zora were waiting for them on the banks of the lake. When the children reached the, the adults could see the toll the day's events took on the children, minus Veda.

"We have found out much about the theives when you were away," said the King. "The thieves that sacked Hyrule Castle, and attempted to raid Gerudo desert, are know as the Hofu trible. They are a small tribe of warriors that, for centuries, wanted to beat the greatest thief tribe ever, the Gerudos. They have not been heard from in 300 years until yesterday. The Hofu figured they were strong enough to take the on Gerudo. Of course, the Gerudos got stronger, and beat the Hofu. There were many casualties on both sides. Some of the thieves retreated into the Spirit temple, and killed the Gerudo shaman."

Maisha gasped. The king looked at her and continued his speech. "Some of them retreated and were taken to the fortress as prisoners for information." The others went to Castle Town and their leader, who I believe is called Uchafu, tried to convince the king to become an ally of the Hofu instead of the Gerudo. He refused and the Hofu attacked castle town and completely destroyed it. Many people died, the few lucky survivors hid in various places in Hyrule. After taking out Hyrule Castle easily, the Hofu realized they needed better allies to beat the Gerudos. They tried to talk to the Gorons, but they were thrown out. They may come to our Domain, which is protected under the seal of the Royal Family, but seeing as the last memeber of the Royal Family is an infant, and I am worried that the seal shall break and Zora's Domain will fall."

"Therefore," the king continued, "I have two royal requests to bestow. To the brave Sheikah leader, Impazina, I am aware that you and the partial-Sheikah with light blonde hair are the last of your race known. I ask you to go out and search for anyone with traces of Sheikah blood. The Sheikah of now seem like respectable people and I would love to make a long term alligience with your race, however many of you are left. The baby Zelda will be left in Zora's care until her natural guardians, the Sheikah, can take over. Do you accept these terms?"

"I do, your Highness." Impazina went to leave, but before she did she walked over to Keeva "I may not see you for a while, but when this is over, I want you to return to Kakariko. Since you are now the Shadow Sage and the only known Sheikah in existence besides myself, I will need your help. Please be safe. Your survival is essential to this dying race." _No pressure_, thought Keeva. _None at all_.

The Zora King cleared his throat. "As for you sages, including my daughter, and your companion," he said looking at Luke, "I would like you all to go to Goron City in Death Mountain. Tell them of the impending situation of the Zora's, and try to convince the tribe's leader, Ardhi, to send help to the Zoras. Also, the cheif's heir is the sage of Fire, whose help I am sure you need. Do you accept this?"

"Yes, I do," said Keeva.

"I do, your Highness," said Maisha.

"As do I," said Lumo.

"I do," said Luke.

"I do, Father," said Princess Veda.

In a flash of colorful lights, the sages (and Luke, who was a purple light from Keeva) flew in the air and set course for Death Mountain.


	9. Death Mountain

"I hate it here, it's really hooooooot," whined Princess Veda. Maisha sighed. Traveling with a seven year old girl was not turning out to be a pleasant experience for her. "My fins are going to dry out."

"It's okay, we're almost there, Veda," said Luke. The sages had warped to Death Mountain, but since they really did not know where that was ,they misaimed and landed in Kakariko. After may failed rties, they decided to walk. While walking up the steep rocky path that lead to Goron City, Keeva was able to learn a lot about her fellow companions.

She learned that in addition to Maisha being stubborn, independent, and opinionated, she was also a great warrior - who, despite living in the hot and dry desert - loved to swim. She discovered that Veda, although she can act spoiled and innocent, was very smart for age and was a better fighter than Keeva herself. Lumo was kind of quiet, but was a total sweetheart. He was the wisest and seemed to be very spiritual. Luke was the smart one, knowing the details of anything strange the saw on their quest. And Keeva was the shy and insecure, but funny and charming one. They were definitely a motley bunch.

"Hey, is this it?" asked Keeva when they reached a random hole in mountain.

"Yes, it is," said Luke.

"How do you know for sure?" asked Maisha uncertainly.

"Because," said Luke, smiling, "the sign is right there."

They walked into the city, and almost immediately Lumo was almost hit by a huge rock rolling down a ramp. Lucky for him, he saw it and jumped backwards. "Gorons are dangerous, apparently." he said. When he said, the Goron that nearly hit him rolled back to him.

"Sorry about that, dude," the Goron said, patting Lumo on the back. He smiled and made a face - the Goron's pat was a little to hard for his comfort. "So, what brings a group of humans in here?"

"We're looking for the Goron chief," responded Lumo. "Do you know where he is?"

"He lives down there." The Goron pointed to an opening at the bottom of the city. "He hasn't seen humans in a while, so I'm sure you'll be welcome." The sages climbed five stories down to the bottom of Goron City and walked to the Chief's entrance. There was a stone door in front of it that said "Please stand on the mat and wait for me to let you in. -Goron Chief".

The mat was a ways off to the side. Maisha noticed this and said, "How is he supposed to know when we stand on it?"

"It's probably magical," said Luke. "Let's just go stand on it." All five kids crowded onto the mat. Almost immediately, the door opened. "Please come in!" a loud, deep voice boomed from inside of the room. The Goron chief was huge; he about twice as tall as Keeva who, being part Sheikah, was the tallest of the group.

"Humans! I was wondering when I'd see some visit us!" bellowed the chief. He had a loud but hearty laugh. "My name is Chief Ardhi, but call me Chief Goron, please."

"Sir, we are here for serious business," said Veda, who spoke before giving one of the older kids a chance to speak. "The Hofu are on the move, and may attack Zora's Domain soon. My father, King Zora, requests allegiance from you. Also, we need to see the fire sage, and I'm assuming you are the fire sage?"

"Ah, if it isn't little Veda of the Zoras. How are you? I haven't seen you in two years! I hope your father is doing well. Of course I will aid him in his time of need! Your father has done great things for the Gorons," said the Chief. "Anyway, I passed my sage duties onto my son because I'm too busy as chief to check on the Fire Temple. Sadly, my son died last year because of a tragic accident, so my daughter rightfully became the next sage. Unfortunatley for you, she is still in training. She's only been the Fire Sage for a few months."

"Well, that still beats us, because with the exception of Veda, we've known of our identities as sages since this morning." said Maisha. "That kinda sucks for us because we all are having trouble mastering our powers as well. I was hoping we would have one experienced person besides the Forest sage."

"Is that so? Well, my daughter is very skilled in combat. While I am training her in her sage abilities, her fiancée has been training her in combat. In fact, I think she is currently in combat training with him in Dodongo's Cavern right now. If she is not, then she is probably in the Fire Temple doing her job. I suggest you check both places."

"Thank you, Chief Goron." Veda bowed, with the others following her example, and they left Goron City. They agreed to check the cavern first. Sure enough, there were two Gorons in there training. One was female, and this surprised the kids, because none of them knew what a female Goron looked like, even Veda.

The Chief's daughter was pretty as far as Gorons go. She was noticeably shorter than the male Gorons, but still towered over Keeva. She had very long and choppy hair, which was a dark shade of gray. Goron hair was only white or gray, for some reason. She wore a simple dark orange smock, unlike most of the Goron population, who went bare. On her neck was a thin chain with the Goron's Ruby on it. Her small beady Goron eyes were hazel, just like her father's. She was older than Maisha and Keeva by a few years. She noticed the kids come in and said something funny. The male Goron she was with noticed the kids and responded to her in the same funny tone. Keeva guessed the Gorons had there own native language.

"May I ask you five why you are here?" asked the girl. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm training."

"Your father sent us here," said Lumo. "We need your sage abilities."

"Oh," said the girl frowning slightly. "I guess I should properly introduce myself. I am Dariette of the Gorons, daughter of Chief Goron. This right here is my fiancée, Juan, future Goron Chief. If you need by sage abilities, I'm sorry to let you know I'm not very good at them. My brother, Darunia, was good at them. He's dead, though, making me the first female Fire sage."

"Yeah," said Veda, "your dad told us this. You are probably better at your sage abilities than the rest of us are. We're all pretty new at this."

"You're all sages?" asked Juan. "But you're all kids!"

"Hey," objected Maisha, "Keeva is sixteen and I am almost seventeen, so we aren't kids! And the boy in the green is not a sage."

'Well, I'm twenty-one, and Dariette is nineteen, so you are kids in our eyes."

"Let's not argue over age, there are more important things," said Dariette calmly. "Obviously there is a reason these sages came to get me. What is it?"

"Let me explain," said Luke. "If you haven't heard, a tribe from the desert known as the Hofu is trying to conquer Hyrule. They are skilled archers, and because of this, they completely destroyed Castle Town. They are currently attacking the Gerudos, and if and when the Gerudos fall, they will surely move on to the Zoras!"

"The Hofu came here earlier today," said Juan. "They were not smart; they didn't know Gorons are imeprvious to arrows. Two other Gorons and I kicked them out. Had I known that they attacked Castle Town, I would have killed them all. Are they really such a threat that they require the sage's powers?"

"Yes," said Keeva. "They killed the King of Hyrule and Princess Zelda. I'm surpised people haven't been hearing of this.."

"Really?" said Dariette. 'Hmph. They never tell us Gorons anything. I know we live in the mountains and all but come on! I'd like to when my King and Princess have passed on!"

"Don't worry, " said Keeva, "it only happened this monring. As for the Princess, she left behind an heir, a new Princess Zelda.

Maisha cleared her throat. "The Hofu are growing in numbers, and they are becoming more skilled in archery. Right now, they are attacking my people, the Gerudo. I hope you guys will hurry up because I do not want my people to be eliminated!"

"Calm down, Maisha," said Luke. "Saria is currently in the desert assisting the Gerudos. We'll meet her there, and with our power, we can get rid of the Hofu, hopefully."

"Yeah, hopefully," said Keeva. She was excited to be able to flaunt her powers that she had yet to show her friends, but she was scared because her lack of experience. The odds were against her; she could possibly die, leaving behind no descendant to be the next Shadow sage. That thought haunted her and the other sages as well, as they crossed Hyrule field.

They arrived at the Gerudo fortress, but there was no fighting. Keeva had never actually been to the fortress, only the haunted wasteland part of the desert. She heard that the fortress was full of guards, but right now there were a few. Saria was nowhere in sight. The guards spotted the kids, raised their spears, and ran over to them, but lowered the weapons when they saw Maisha. Well, one of the guards lowered the weapon. The younger gaurd ket her spear up and stared at Maisha angrily.

"We thought you fell in battle!" the guard cried. "Where have you been? It's not like a Gerudo to run from a battle."

The younger guard crossed her arms. "Especially you, Maisha. Did the mighty Hofu scare you away?"

"You shut your trap, Ralonda. You're just mad because you were made a guard while I was made a warrior by the Exalted.

"Will you two ever stop fighting? Maisha, the battle is over but a few of the Hofu are still hiding in the wasteland, so be careful," chastised the other, olfer guard.

"Yes, I know all of this," said Maisha impatiently. "The only thing I need to know is the location of the Hofu and the Forest Sage called Saria."

"Maisha, what is the meaning of this?" asked the guard.

"Terrible things are happened while you all were fighting. And it is my duty as the sage of the Spirit Temple to protect Hyrule, and not just the desert!"

The guard called Ralonda frowned. "Are you kidding me? _You _are Nabooru's lost descendant? I guess that figuires; I hear Nabooru was a conceited brat, so I guess you take after her. How cute."

The other guard whacked Ralonda with the end of her spear. "You shall not speak of the Honorable Nabooru as such! Have you no honor?" She turned to Maisha. "Oh, Maisha, that's amazing. I'm kind of jealous. Saria is in the highest part of the fortress, and the Hofu are back at their normal living place. They are planning their next invasion, no doubt, so we must act quickly."

The sages, Luke, Juan, and the Gerudo guard that was not Ralonda made their way up the fortress until they found Saria and Mitzi (who stayed with Saria) talking to the Queen Gerudo, Raynada. Raynada's husband was the male Gerudo king, who died a few months ago. And as Gerudo tradition states, until the next male was born, the king's wife and daughters would rule. There rule would be followed by the Exalted, who was a spiritual leader of the Gerudo and acted as the shaman.

Saria smiled when they walked in. "Oh, all of you are alright! And all of you are here, great! As you should know, Princess Zelda is the leader of the sages, but unfortunatley she is too young to know of her powers. So, I'll lead you all through this, being the most expierienced. Is that okay?"

"Yes," replied the other sages.

The Queen clasped her hands together and locked eyes with the Gerudo sage. "Maisha, Saria tells me you are the lost descendant of Nabooru, the Sprit Sage." Maisha nodded regally. "I've also gotten word that our beloved and Exalted shaman has died. I have appointed my daughter to take over in her place, but seeing as you are the Spirit Sage, it would be wise to appoint you to be the next shaman."

Keeva saw Maisha smirk; she got her wish. "I am honored," Maisha said humbly.

"When you return, I shall let everyone know of your position as the Spirit Sage and shaman. Exalted Maisha, I'll have the guards move all of your belongings to the Spirit Temple, where you will be living to perform your duties as Sage and shaman." The Gerudo queen stood up from her chair. "It is a very long journey, so each of you may take one of our best horses, and the remains of the food we have in storage. I wish you luck, and please return safely."

"Wait, Queen Raynada, I know this is sudden, but I have an important request," said Maisha unexpectedly.

"Yes?" asked Raynada.

"We have little expierience. Can we rest and spend the rest of the day in the Gerudo training ground?"

"Maisha," said Saria, "we can't fool around! We have to defeat the Hofu!"

"Saria, think about it. You have a lot of expeirnce as a sage, but not much as a fighter. Dariette and I can fight but need to practice our sage abilties. Keeva, Lumo, and Veda need to pratice both fighting and sage Luke needs to practice fighting a bit. Even if we are powerful, we don't have much of a chance."

"Maisha is right," said Lumo. Veda nodded enthusiastically.

"Fine," said Saria. "But we leave first thing tomorrow." Queen Raynada handed Saria the key to the grounds, and they were escorted out by the guard.

Keeva bit her lip. Even being a Hylian/Sheikah, she still heard how deadly and fearsome the Gerudo training grounds are. She was scared and did not want to go in, but she knew if the couldn't make it through the training grounds, there was no way she'd last againt the Hofu.


	10. The Gerudo Training Grounds

The way Maisha descrived the training grounds, Keeva assumed the first room would be easiest since the key would be sitting in a treasure chest to get the puzzle started. Sure enough, the first room of the training grounds had nothing but a treasure chest in it. This caused Veda, who also assumd it would have a key, to run over to it and open it. There was no key, but rather a bundle of arrows. "What is his?" asked Maisha. "I thought a key was in there." She angrily threw the arrows to Luke.

"The first room changes too, Maisha!" yelled the guard from outside, who was peering inside the grounds, eager to catch a glimpse of the sages in action. "The more people, the more keys needed."

"I knew that!" snapped Maisha.

"Look up there!" yelled Lumo. Everyone looked and saw a gold plate with a metal eyeball on it a few feet above the entrance door. "What is it?"

"Oh, I've seen those before," said Maisha. "You're supposed to hit them with something sharp, like a spear. I don't have a spear, though. I could try throwing a scimitar, but it will be very difficult to throw it accurately from down here."

"I can use my arrows," said Luke. He took an arrow out of his quiver and unhooked his bow. He shut his left eye and lined up the arrows. With a smooth flick of his fingers, the arrow went flying. Luke hit just the outside of the metal plate. He loaded another arrow and moved his bow a little to the right. This time, the arrow hit the eye, and the eye closed. A tiny treasure chest fell from nowhere and almost landed on Veda.

"Hey! Watch it!" she yelled. She opened the treasure chest to find a key. She walked over to Luke and gave him the key.

"Should we take the right door, the center door, or the left door?" asked Luke.

"I know what we should do," said Maisha. "Find the next key, and split up. Me, Keeva, Lumo, Veda and Dariette will take the left, and Juan, Luke and Saria can take the right."

"I think," argued Saria, "that Lumo and Veda should come with us, and Luke should go with you. It's too dangerous to have all of you together."

"Fine," said Maisha. "The key is probably under the mat or something. Trust me, they can get creative with hiding the keys in this first room." Veda ran to the mat and lifted it up, but there was no key.

Lumo went over to the vases by the entrance wall and looked into each of them. When he reached the one in the middle, he froze. "Uh, something is in here," he said.

"The key?" asked Dariette.

"It's moving," said Lumo. Luke walked over, drew his sword, and slashed the vase. Clay shards shattered to reveal the hunched over form of a redead. He jumped back to avoid being strangled, but the redead froze and glowed white. Lumo was concentrating hard on the redead and had his hand out stretched. He was using his sage ability to protect Luke. Luke sensed what was happening and slashed at the redead until it fell to the floor and vanished. A small key appeared in its place, which Saria grabbed instantly.

"Okay, let's split up," said Saria. "When the sun sets, we are going back to the fortress to rest whether you learned anything or not. I don't want to overdo it." She turned and walked through the door, followed by Juan, Veda, and Lumo.

"Boy, she is _soooo_ helpful," said Maisha sarcastically, drawing her weapons. "Okay, follow me, and be careful. I'm kinda glad we don't have the little ones with us; this place is dangerous."

"Maisha," asked Keeva, "have you been in here before?"

"Sort of. To beat the training grounds, you must leave through the door in the central room. But that door is blocked by kany other locked doors. You win keys by progressing through the rooms of the grounds . However, the rooms change to meet the needs of the user. Few Gerudos have made it through. I haven't even done so, though it is my dream to. To triumph over this place, you have to conqeur your own weaknesses."

"That sounds fun," said Luke. He took the keys from Maisha and unlocked the door. They all walked in, ready to face the unknown.

They walked in to find a huge room made of sandy bricks. The room only had two torches on the wall, and one on the ground, so it was kind of dark inside. There were two redeads and a torch on one side, and a bunch of random targets on the other. Maisha drew her scimitars and walked over to the targets, but a ring of green fire appeared and blocked her.

"What the..?" she asked in wonder. Everyone else tried to cross, with Dariette even trying to manipulate the fire, but the flames only yielded for Luke. Keeva, Maisha, and Dariette had to go by the redeads.

"Clearly," said Dariette, "the targets are for Luke, the torch is for me, and each of you get one of those zombie things." Dariette controlled some fire and attempted to burn one of the redeads, but it was unfazed by the fire. Instead, it walked over to her and tried to strangle her.

"Get off of her!" yelled Keeva. The redead stopped and walked over to Keeva. Maisha looked at both of the redeads of smiled.

"I have an idea," she said. Her body disappeared into one of the redeads, and its eyes glowed yellow to show that Maisha was in control of it. Maisha strangled the other redead, who Keeva mentally commanded to fight back. It was a one-sided fight, with Keeva's redead dropping to the ground within seconds. Maisha left her redead, and glanced at Keeva.

"You couldn't have made that a little more fun?" she asked Keeva.

"It was plenty of fun. I won," she said with an evil grin.

"Hey, look!" yelled Luke, who paused his target practice. He was pointing to a dark spot on the wall. "What is that?" Dariette moved some fire to the spot to find an empty torch. She used her sage ability to light the torch. Suddenly, a door opened an a huge, armed lizard fell in front of Keeva and swung at her. She thought of what Impa told her and concentrated quickly. She felt the heat leave her body and heard the clang of the lizard's sword against her skeletal arm. The lizard blinked at her in shock. Dariette saw this opening and used her fire to kill the lizard. After it fell and Dariette got the key that it dropped, she stared at the skeleton Keeva in horror, along with Maisha and Luke.

"Are you alright, Keeva?" asked Luke uncertainly.

"I'm fine."

"No she's not! She's dead! Either she' dead or this is a freaky Sheikah-Shadow power!"

"Yes, it's one of my abilities," said Keeva. Maisha exhaled dramatically and put her hand over her chest.

"You could have given some warning, I thought you died!" she yelled. "You turned into a skeleton!"

"Okay, Keeva you did freak us out there, but it's okay. We beat the enemies, so we should be able to move on, now, right?" said Dariette calmly.

Keeva returned to her normal self while Maisha thought about the situation. "We can't move on," Maisha finally said, "because we got a key, but the doors are still barred. I've never done this a partner, but I'm assuming every person needs a key in order for the bars to dissappear."

Luke spoke up. "So then the rest of us need keys. Hmm By the looks o these puzzles, you don't just need strength. You need logic and reason."

"Which none of us have." Everyone glared at Maisha. "I was just kidding about the last part," she said with a laugh. The other sages laughed as well.

Dariette looked around the room thoughtfully. _If lighting one torch causes something to happen, what does putting out all three do?_" She decided to test this by sucking all all of the fire out from the torches. The floor disappeared, and the four kids fell screaming. They landed into a small pond approximately two stories down. They swam out of the water and looked at the new room they were in. TIt was black and empty save for single torch hangng from the ceiling and a darknut sitting in a brick chair and watching the sages with amusedment.

It rose and walked towards the chidlren as it raised it's lrge blade. Maisha dashed to the side and struck it with her scimitar, but she missed and the blow scraped against the strong armor of the monster. The darknut swung his long axe. Keeva held up her gauntlet to block the blow, but Maisha pushed her with such force she fell to the ground.

"What was that for?" snapped Keeva as she got up off of the floor.

"Are you crazy? Those gauntlets are useless at the moment. They swing with such force your arm will break!"

"These are my only weapons," said Keeva sadly. "Now what do I do? You all have swords and things, while I have these. What am I supposed to do?"

"Keeva, do you know anything about Sheikahs?" asked Dariette.

"No! I just found out I was a Sheikah this morning! I always thought I was Hylian!"

"The Sheikah are a tall and muscular race. They have great stregth, so they fight eitherwith hammers or with their bare hands."

"You're kidding, right? I'm going to die; those things are huge!" Keeva was about to start freaking out, when Luke gave a her a small confident smile.

"I'll cover for you, don't worry," he said. That made her feel a little bit better. Keeva mustered up some courage and faced the darknut. It swung at her, but she ducked. She could feel the rush of air send the hair on her head fly upward. The darknut's axe got wedged in the ground so Keeva took this opportunity to punch the darknut. She put a slight dent in the armor, but it wasn't enough. The blow seemed to hurt Keeva more than the darknut. The darknut swung again and grazed Keeva's side. It stung a lot, but it stll hurt less than Keeva expected it to. She could see some blood seep through her torn brown skirt. The sight of her blood made her very angry, and she wanted revenge. She pushed the back of the darknut, who was till following through with his previous attack. Keeva pushed him, and he stumbled a bit. The darknut kicked Keeva in disgust and she fell face-first on the ground.

The darknut was about to bring his axe down on her when Luke stepped in front of her with his sheild. When the axe struck his sheild, Luke fell backwards on top of Keeva.

"Ow," she mumbled. The darknut was about to hit the two of them again when Dariette stepped forward and punched the darknut. Because of her Goron strength, the darknut's armor crumbled under her hit. The darknut was now in simple chainmail.

"Now that his armor is gone, I think I can handle this," said Maisha. She drew her swords and entered into close-range combat with the darknut. It was much faster without its armor, but the weight of its weapon slowed it down. After a while it was obvious that the darknut would beat Maisha.

"This doesn't look good," said Keeva to Luke.

"I'll go help," he said back. He pulled out the Master Sword and joined Maisha in battle. It worked perfectly: one struck the darknut while the other defended themself against it. The darknut fell in under a minute, but it did not drop a key like they hoped. However, Keeva spotted athe key tried onto the ax and untied it. Dariette took the axe and kept it.

"So," she said, "we have two keys, and we need two more. Let's hope we don't die trying to get them."

"Amen to that," said Luke. "I see a pathway over there, so we should go check it out." The girls followed him into the dimly lit hallway. It had no turns, it just went on and on forever. Once or twice a skulltula fell in front of them, which Luke simply slashed with his sword. They continued walking for half an hour when Maisha yelled something.

"I see the keys"! There was a key above their heads, held there by a small vine. The other key was inside of stone, only some parts of it visible. "How are we supposed to get them?" she asked.

"I'll burn that vine," said Dariette. She brought fire onto the vine, but the fire was put out. She tried again, and the same thing happened. "Sorry guys, the vine has too much water content."

Keeva remembered her training with Impa and concentrated on the vine, imagining the water and life being sucked out of it. The vine began to wither until finally it crumbled altogether. The key fell on top of Dariette and made her jump, despite her calm nature. "What just happened?" she asked.

"I sucked the life out of the vines. Sorry, I should have waited for you to move, but at least we got a key. How will we get the other one?" asked Keeva.

"Like this," said Dariette. She punched the stone, but it did not break. She kept trying, but the stone didn't even crack.

"Hey, stop," said Luke. "Let me try." He swung the darknut's axe and the stone cracked a little. He swung three times until the stone was damaged enough to take the key. One Luke grabbed it, the kids all reappeared in the entrance of the training grounds. Saria was standing in front of them, looking angry.

"The door was locked," she said. "I've been waiting for an hour."

"But Saria," said Luke, "we-"

"Let's not waste time," she said before letting Luke explain their tardiness. "We all need to rest, so everyone needs to go to the fortress. We are leaving at the break of dawn, whether you like it or not."


	11. Uchafu and the Hofu

Keeva woke up to someone shaking her furiously. "Keeva, wake up," said Maisha hurriedly. "We have to leave now. Saria is being really harsh, and she probably won't let you sit and eat so I got you a piece of bread to eat on the way. Come on, Keeva, stop being so lazy!" Maisha grabbed Keeva's arm and pulled her off of the bed. The bed was only one foot off of the ground, so the fall did not hurt Keeva but it was enough to get her up.

"When exactly are we leaving?" she asked Maisha.

"Right now, let's go," said Saria as she climbed up the stairs to Maisha and Keeva's room. Saria snapped her fingers, which meant they had to follow her immediately. Keeva grabbed her gauntlets and Maisha grabbed her weapons, and they both followed Saria wordlessly.

Outside, the sages (and Juan and Luke) were ready an waiting, even though Luke and Lumo looked a bit sleepy. Veda and Lumo were going to ride together so that the group would have two horses for supplies instead of one. Saria placed little Veda, who was still on the ground, up on her horse while Maisha and Keeva mounted theirs. Mitzi the fairy wanted to come, but Saria told her to stay, and she dinged in disapproval.

The ride across the vast desert was long and hot. They used up all of the water around noon when the trip was halfway over, so they stopped whenever they lucked out and found a small oasis. The heat was extremely hard on Princess Veda because she was the smallest, and being a Zora did not help out much either.

"Look, there's a lake over there!" she moaned. "Can I go swim in it?"

Saria shook Veda's arm gently to snap her out of it. "Sweetie, there is no lake, it's a mirage. Just hold tight, we will be there soon."

The group continued their journey in silence. The sun began to slowly descend in the sky, bringing relief from the heat. Soon enough, the traces of building could be seen on the horizon. Keeva imagined the Hofu to be a small tribe with a few tents, but this was not so. As they got closer, Keeva could make out huge, elaborate stone buildings. As they got closer, she could see smaller stone buildings where the families lived. There were a lot of them.

"Saria, we are clearly outnumbered. Are we going to burn the villages before we attack?" asked Juan upon noticing the many stone houses.

"No," she said. "We will leave them be. They are innocent, to my knowledge. It is the leader of this tribe and his guards that we are after." Juan frowned but decided to not question Saria. They continued their journey until they were inside the tribe's territory. Saria called for a stop. "Okay, we are in the village. Keep your guard up, and be as silent as possible." They crept through the village and made it to the central fortress. It was a simple rectangular building with one big wall around it. On the right side of the building was a river that was one mile down from the building. This was tribe's primary water source despite the fact that was it was a long and treacherous journey down a steep canyon to reach the river.

"Look out!" yelled Luke out of nowhere. Three guards were shooting arrows at the group. Keeva put up her arms to block the arrow from hitting her, but the arrow's path was interrupted with a wave of Lumo's hand. Keeva and the others were thankful for that.

"Thanks Lumo. Keep doing that while I talk," ordered Saria. "There probably aren't that many warriors here because the Gerudo eliminated many of them. Still, I thought of a plan. All of us will attack and kill the soldiers, while Luke goes to destroy Uchafu. Watch each other's backs, and try not to get seriously hurt. Juan, Lumo, Veda and I will secure the left wall. Keeva, Maisha, and Dariette will secure the right. Luke, I want you to hide until you can safely enter. Find Uchafu and destroy him. Good luck everyone." Saria and her group hurried off, while Luke his behind a rock until it was his turn. Keeva and her group went off to the right.

"We need to get up on top of the wall. I can climb up, but I don't think you two can," said Dariette. "I have a rope, so I'll lower it for you two. This wall must be at least thirty feet tall, so it will take a few minutes to scale. Watch my back while I'm climbing." Dariette left them and began to climb the wall.

"How can we watch her back?" Maisha asked Keeva. "We have no long-range weapons!"

"We can throw rocks," said Keeva, picking up a rock out of the sand. Maisha followed her example and they started collecting rocks. They saw five warriors leave the building take aim at Dariette from the wall, and began to throw the rocks with careful aim. After getting hit a few times, the soldiers changed their target to the two teenage rock throwers. One of their arrows flew straight for Maisha's head. As a reaction, Keeva stuck her arm in front of her. The arrow bounced off of her gauntlet and landed somewhere in the sand.

"Thanks, Keeva," said Maisha as she threw another rock. She made sure hit the warrior that almost killed her with the arrow. The rock hit him in the face and he stumbled, falling off the edge. The two sages both felt his lfie and spirit leave his body. "One down, many more to go."

The girls saw Dariette reach the top and let down the rope. The warriors saw this too, and took aim at Dariette. She fought off the nearby warriors with machetes (since the blades did the least damage to her), while the rest stood with their bows ready to fire when they saw an opening. Maisha and Keeva climbed the rope with little difficulty and aided Dariette. The only two Hofu left were archers, and since the archers were not very educated in close-range combat, they had to fight on pure instinct. Needless to say, they were killed easily. Even though she felt their life leave their bodies, she pushed their bodies over the edge of the wall and into the seemingly endless abyss next to them. After they were all killed, the girls looked up at each other.

"There might be more on the other side of the wall. We are still in the front," said Maisha. The girls walked along the wall, but saw no soldiers. The girls were about to go check the inside of the building when an arrow flew and struck Dariette's leg. Being a Goron, the arrow didn't do much damage, but it left a mark. And judging by Dariette's small cry of pain, it had hurt her a little.

The girls heard some commotion from the inside of the fortress, and looked in to see three Hofu - one male and two female - running. The man stopped amd adressed the smaller female. "Do not worry, daughter, just follow your mother" he said. He then noticed the three girls, and he summoned a asoldier. "There are three intruders, all female, on the eastern wall. Kill them." The soldier readied an arrow at the girls, until something distracted him. Luke walked into the sand area with his sword and shield equipped. The soldier shot his arrow at Luke instead, but Luke's shield blocked it. Luke slashed his sword and the Hofu dropped his bow and grabbed the huge, gaping wound on his front. Luke stabbed him with the sword and the Hofu's body disintegrated. Luke looked up at the girls, and they pointed to the pathway that Uchafu and the females took. Luke gave them a thumbs up and took the same pathway.

The girls walked the length of the wall until they heard footsteps. The Hofu was on the edge of the wall, and was helping the two females down. "My wife and daughter," he said. "I want you to continue on back, and run away from our tribe. Hide until it is safe. I some pests to take care of."

"Be safe, Uchafu," said the woman. So _this_ was Uchafu. At least he was making sure his wife and daughter stayed safe; that showed he had some morals.

Uchafu stood watching his wife and child run away, and when he decided they were safe, he turned to the girls and drew his dual combat swords. "You invade my fortress and endanger my family. You three shall all die, right here, by my hand." Keeva clenched her fists, tryng to hide her intense fear behind a wall of anger.

Luke ran up the stairs with his swords and shield in hand. He did not see the girls either, and turned to Uchafu. "You will not touch any of them, not while I am here," he demanded. Keeva was shocked at how Luke sounded; it was a side of him she would have never thought existed.

Uchafu laughed at Luke. "My boy, you are foolish." He whistled and four soldiers with machetes ran up the stairs. "These are my bodyguards, the strongest men in this clan." He turned to his bodyguards. "Kill the females," he said. "I'll take care of the boy."

One guard threw his machets at Maisha, who caught them, twirled them around, and sent them flying back the the Hofu with double force. The blades sliced through him instantly. "It'll take more than that to kill a Gerudo," she spat.

The girls worked into a strategy Maisha and Keeva paired up, with Keeva on defense and Maisha on offense. Dariette, being a well-trained warrior princess, was able to do both. Meanwhile, Uchafu was using his dual swords to fight Luke, and he seemed to be quite proficient with them. Whenever Luke struck him, Uchafu crossed his blades to make a firm shield. He even pushed Luke a few times, almost causing him to fall off of the edge, into the rocky river and to his death.

After ten minutes of heavy battle, two of the guards had fallen. Maisha and Keeva were struggling with a guard, while Dariette finished off the weaker one. She went over to help Maisha and Keeva with the strongest and final guard. Keeva heard a groan of agony from Uchafu. She looked over and saw that Luke had stabbed him in the stomach. The sword went completely through Uchafu, and Luke's hand was against Uchafu's shirt, which was now covered in blood. Uchafu looked at Luke angrily.

"You're going to regret that!" he yelled at Luke. Dariette and Maisha were too engaged in battle to noticed the yelling, but Keeva was paying attention. She left the battle momentarily to see if Luke was alright.

"Obviously, you're regretting more than I am right now," said Luke, his teeth fritted from exertion.

Uchafu smiled foolishly. "Stupid child." he said. He mustered the little strength he had left and pushed Luke. The force was enough to knock Luke over the right edge of the wall. Because he was still holding the sword that impaled the leader, Uchafu fell over the edge as well. he knew he was going to die, so in his last act he brought Luke down with him.

Keeva screamed and sprinted to where they fell. She looked down and saw with pure terror that they were falling into the river. There was no way Luke would survive. She screamed and cursed at Uchafu, who was probably going to be dead before he hit the water because of the severity of his wounds. Keeva heard of the sound of the remaining soldier die, and the running footsteps of her friends rushing to her side. It all sounded so distant to her.

"Keeva, what happened? Where'd Luke and Uchafu go? Are they fighting downstairs? Why are you just standing there?" Maisha and Dariette asked her a bunch of questions. Keeva felt her throat tighten up as she tried to answer one of the questions.

"They're dead. Uchafu pushed himself and Luke over the edge, and into the river way down there." Keeva could feel the tears slide down her cheeks. "Luke didn't even see it coming. And now..." Keeva wiped her tears on her arm. Maisha and Dariette bit their lips, trying so hard to be strong. But even they, two strong warriors, succumed to the sadness. Luke was a brave soul, so young and innocent; he didn't deserve to die. His death was devastating. And now, they'd have to tell everyone the horrible news.

They slowly walked back to the front gates, the established rendevous point. Juan was the first to notice them. "I'm so glad you are okay!" yelled Juan as he suffocated his fiancée in a cheerful embrace. "Once Luke gets back we can all get out of here." He noticed her lack of response and let go. "What happened? The other girls are okay, why are you crying?"

"It's Luke..." said Dariette tearfully.

"Where is he? What happened to Uchafu?" asked Saria worriedly.

Keeva pointed to the river. "They're both down there," she said through tears.

"How did they get down there?" asked Lumo. "Are they okay?"

"No, you idiot," said Maisha. She had stopped crying, but she starting to choke up again. "They both fell into the river, which is one mile down. They're both dead."

Juan and Saria frowned. Saria eyes watered a bit, but she did not cry. However, Lumo and Veda started to cry heavily. Saria tried to console them despite the fact the she was upset was well.

The Hofu were gone, the day was saved, but many lives innocent lives were lost in the process. Keeva's thoughts were a blur as she got onto her horse and rode back home. The trip back t the Gerudo desert was short and silent. Keeva tried all she could to stop thinking about Luke, but it was all in vain.

As she mourned his death, she swore she'd never forget him or his bravery.


	12. Selfless

_A/N: For those of you wondering why this story is being updated nearly two years after it's completion, I'm letting you know that I re-red this story and spiced it up a bit. I also made clear some details that were previously foggy. And this biggest change is that I replaced the epilogue with a whole chapter, so more stuff happens._

* * *

Luke felt the hard hit of Uchafu's show hit his stomach. This hit caused to lose his breath and his footing. He made a mad grab for land with his free hand when he realized he was free falling with Uchafu still impaled on his sword. He looked down and realized that the river was quickly approaching. He was going to die. He could feel the rush of air fly past him, and it felt great. It registered in his mind that this was the last thing he would ever feel before he smashed against the rocky river below.

Master Sword still in hand, Luke braced himself for death. The water was inches from his face when everything went black and silent. When his vision began to come to, he was astounded. He was in a room the looked as if it were made of water. Three girls sat in front of him. They were very young, but had an ancient look to them. They were the prettiest girls Luke had ever seen. The girl on the left had red hair, the one in the middle, green, and the one on the right, blue. The green-haired girl spoke first.

"You have done well, hero., despite your untimely death. My sisters and I have agreed that because of your great courage, power, and wisdom, you shall be awarded a second chance at life. Also, we took into consideration that if we let you die, the Master Sword would be lost forever."

"So.. I'm not... dead? Who... are... you?" He struggled to find his voice.

"No, child, you are not dead," said the blue-haired girl. "We took you out of the earth before your impact. You will not die. As to who we are, I am Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom. That is Farore, the goddess of Courage. And over there is Din, the goddess of Power.

Upon hearing their names, Luke blushed and bowed quickly. "Oh, well, thank you for sparing me." Nayru smiled softly before the world turned black and silent again. Luke was back where he was, inches away from falling into the river. This time, however, Luke fell only a few inches as opposed to a mile, so he landed unharmed. He casually checked his reflection in the water. His light brown hair was wet and sticking to his forehead, close to his eyebrows. His blue eyes looked weary but strong. They were the eyes of a hero.

He disgustedly pulled the Master Sword out of Uchafu's corpse and watched his dead body float down the river as he cleaned the blood off of the sacred blade. Luke sheathed his sword and looked around. He knew enough of the world's to know that the river had to eventually eventually lead to Lake Hylia. His best option of escpe would be to ride the current to Hyrule. He took out his sword again and made a raft out of wood from trees he cut. He sat on this raft and waited patiently for nature to bring him to his destination.

A few days later, the river dumped Luke out into Lake Hylia. By this point he was very tired, thirty, and hungry. He barely had enough energy to swim to the shore, much less walk to Kakariko where he figuired Impazina and Keeva would be. He tried his hardest to at least leave the water, but his consciousness was slipping away. His second chance, the chance few others had recieved, and it was all gone in a few days' time.

_The end._

_..._

_...or is it?_

Even though she was only seven years old, Princess Veda of the Zoras was very mature and proud. She was the light of her parents' world, being able to balance princess and sage duties at such a tender age. It involbed her sacrificing much of her childhood, but Veda did not mind. She loved the feeling of being important, and being on her own in the vast Water Temple.

This morning, as any other morning, she set out to check on her beloved Temple. However, when she saw somethign strange lying on the banks of Lake Hylia, she went into fight mode. After the events of the Hofu, her father and mother decided she was old enough to carry a weapon in case her sage abilities did not prove to be enough for her. So, she unsheated the dagger she kept hidden in her fins and approached the threat.

"I don't know what you are, but you will not go near my temple!" She held her knife in front of her face and observed what was lying in front of her. It was definaatley a person, a Hylian boy. She quickly kicked him over with her foot and gasped. Even with his long hair covering his face in a wet mess, she stillr recognized him by his clothes. It was Luke.

"Luke!" she screamed as she pushed on his body. "Please be okay!" She laid her head on his chest and felt his heart beating and lungs rising. It didn't sound normal, like it was hard for him, but at least he was alive. Veda quickly wiped the tears of happiness out of her eyes and she turned into a ball of light and flew back to her home.

She appeared on the speaking post of the King's room, ignoring all manners. "Father, the hero of Hyrule - the one who we thought was dead - is not dead! He's alive, but barely! He needs help! Please, send people to help him! He's lying on the banks of Lake Hylia. Please help him, he'll die."

A few Zora soldiers turned and ran out, following indirect orders from their seven-year-old princess. Veda tried to run out with them, but her father stopped her. "Veda, tell me what you saw."

She began to explain how she found Luke in great detail when one of the guards arrived. "Your Majesties, we found the boy the princess was speaking of. We have recovered him and brought him to the infirmary. His condition is severe, but he should be alright.

Veda placed her hand oer her heart and breathed a sigh of relief. "I have to tell the others."

"The others?" her father asked.

"The other sages. We all thought he was... you know. I'll be back shortly, father."

Veda turned into a blue ball of light, shining brilliantly. She flew out of the domain and landed in the middle of Kakariko village. She decided to tell Keeva the news first because she was the friendliest of the sages, and the closest to Luke.

A boy of about sizteen or seventeen noticed her appear int he middle of the village and was staring at her. Veda looked at him, wondering who he was. He had bright eyes, sort of orange colored, white hair, and tan skin. She decided to approach the boy. "Hello, I'm sorry, but I'm looking for the Shadow Sage, a young Sheikah girl named Keeva?" He stared at Veda in wonder and pointed to the house behind him. Veda nodded respectfully and ran in.

Inside, Impazina and another strange looking woman Sheikah-Hylian hybrid were in a heated arguement while a few more hybrids, Keeva among them, were watching. One of them was holding the baby Princess Zelda. When her precense was npticed, everyone turned and stared at her. "What's a Zora child doing here?" one of the hybrids asked.

"Shhh!" Impazina bowed. "Welcome, Princess. What brings you here?"

Keeva walked up to Veda. "Princess Veda..? Did something happen?"

"Yes, Keeva, I need you to fly to Zora's Domain with me!"

Keeva looked at Impazina and the other Sheikah's unsurely. "Right now, Veda? Is this important?"

Impazina hit Keeva with the side of her arm. "Keeva, she may be a child but she is still the princess of the Zoras! Show some repect!" Veda ignored them and grabbed Keeva, turning her into a blue ball and forcing her to the Domain.

"Alright Impa- wait." She realzied she was in Zora's Domain. She gave Veda an annoyed look. "You just love to do that, huh?"

"Yep!" beamed the tiny princess as she grabbed Keeva's arm and ran into the infirmary with her.

"What's this about?" Keeva asked. "Why- ooh my.." She abandoned her question when she was Luke, alive but barely, lying on a mat in front of her. She ran up to him. "He's still alive! But how!" Tears of joy escaped her eyes. "How did her survive that?"

"I don't know. I was going to ask him when he woke up." She took a few steps away from them. "I'm going to go tell the other sages. Can you stay here and watch him?" Keeva agreed, and Veda flew away.

Keeva stared down at Luke and wiped the hair out of his face. It has been three days since the defeat of the Hofu. She wondered what Luke had been doing the whole time, and he survided such a fall. Everyone, including Saria, had thought of him as good as dead. Keeva sighed and laid her head down on Luke's arm.

A weak cough startled her and caused her to sit up. When she did, she noticed Luke's wide blue eyes staring at her. "What are you doing, Keeva?" he asked. She didn't answer him, but rather squeezed him close to her in a deathly tight hug. Only when Luke began choking did she release him.

"Luke! " She began to cry tears of happiness. "I thought you were dead. We all did. How did you survive?"

"The goddesses saved me from the fall, and I found my way back." He looked up and noticed he ws in an infirmary. "Barely," he added. "Where am I?"

"Zora's Domain. Princess Veda found you, apparently. She flew to Kakariko and brought me here, and I've been waiting for you to wake up ever since."

"So, where is the princess? I should probably thank her."

"She went to go tell the other sages that you're okay. We were all pretty.. shaken by your death."

Luke frowned. "Oh. So what you been up to while I was, um, away?"

"Impazina and I went looking for more Sheikah. You won't believe it, Luke; we found a whole colony of Sheikah/Hylian hybrids in the desert! Impazina thinks that's where my parents grew up, but I am unsure. We brought them back to Kakariko so we can try and purify our race so that the Sheikahs don't die out."

"That's great! What about the others?"

"Maisha became the shaman of the Gerudo and she lives in the Spirit Temple. And you have to call her _Exalted _Maisha, or she gets mad. Dariette and Juan went back to Death Mountain. Juan said even though he wasn't a sage, he's always help us out if we needed him. Saria went back to the forest; she'll probably want to see you later. Lumo went back to Castle Town. His mother, the sage before him, survided the attack on Castle Town. The two of them are helping rebuild Castle Town. I was thinking of going back and helping rebuild, too."

"Yeah, I might do that to, since Castle Town is my home... I guess. I really don't know where I belong.." The pain in his voice was evident. "Saria told me there was a place for me in the forest, but I don't feel right living there."

Keeva frowned. "Luke, you can always come and live in Kakariko with me. You are not a Sheikah, but you are still a hero. Impazina will welcome you with honor. She was devastated when I told her what happened to you."

Luke thought about it. "I'd like that." He yawned.

"You should go back to sleep. You almost died; you have a lot of strength to recover."

"Mmkay. Wake me up when Veda gets back."

"Okay," Keeva agreed. She stayed by Luke's side until she was sure he was asleep. When he was out, Keeva left and returned to Kakariko. She decided it was best to warn Impazina of Luke's arrival. She didn't want the middle aged woman to think that she was seeing dead people. Even if that _was_ considered normal to Impazina.

_The end._

_For real._


End file.
